Winter Tree
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Actions have repercussions. Keith finds himself haunted by Allura's voice calling out in his dreams, but the universe is haunted by strange anomalies despite the sacrifice. One anomaly thrusts Keith and Lance into another universe when he is out looking for Allura, but the Lance of that universe finds an injured Keith in the tree during the dead of winter. (Open Novella 2019)
1. Searching

_Disclaimer - I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender Note - This was written for the Open Novella 2019. The prompt I am using for the story is Suspense 1: Winter Sun._The prompt is, "_the winter sun is shining low and bright. The three in the middle of the field seems bent under the weight of something, forming a dark silhouette against snow laden on its branches. A closer look reveals drops of splattered on the fresh snow..._"

_while some feel her relationship with Lance was a healthy one I am with the ones who feel the relationship was one-sides and toxic. For example, Allura was upset because she originally thought she and Coran were the last Alteans. Later they find out there were others who were alive, but they were being used for experiments and manipulated. Lance made her feel guilty and apologize for the way she felt about the circumstances her race found themselves in by pointing out the way she felt hurt him emotionally. _

_Allura was also told by Lance's mother that he isn't a ladies' man, but one of the things Lance loves doing is flirting with women which means he is one even though he's never been successful. A few fans feel Lance grew out of liking to flirt with female characters, but he was never seen after a certain point in a situation where he would be tempted to. Hunk also says he is the character most like Lance from DotU after Lance is supposedly no longer flirting with girls, but Lance from DotU is definitely a ladies' man. _

_I also like working with the headcanon of Keith and Shiro being biological siblings. Part of the reason I jumped on this is because in GoLions (the first version of Voltron) Shiro had a brother named Ryo. In DotU Shiro and Ryo were combined to make Sven, but in VLD they brought back Shiro instead of going with Sven and I wondered where Shiro's brother was from season one._

_I actually didn't succeed in getting Lance to the character growth I wanted. This also got through the second round._

**Winter Tree  
****_Searching_**

"_Keith..._"

The sound of Allura's voice haunted Keith's dreams, but he found himself waking up in a cold sweat. The young leader of the paladins found himself sitting up straight looking into the pitch darkness thinking of the dream which haunted him every single night ever since Allura choose the path of self-sacrifice. Her voice called out, yet her thin fingers also reached out for him, almost as if begging for Keith to rescue her.

Keith found himself wracked with guilt. In the back of his mind, he kept wondering how Allura didn't feel as if she could turn to the rest of the team for help, yet in the same token, he found himself feeling the utmost guilt for having once done the same thing. At the time he simply thought of saving everyone he cared about, yet now feeling the pain of someone else sacrificing themselves he found himself left wondering how the others would have felt if he indeed succeeded.

The dream left a rather bitter taste which didn't abate as night turned into day and he progressed like everyone else upon the Atlas through the day to day routine. The urge to find Allura despite the fact everything told him he wouldn't find her anywhere in this universe echoed through the back of his mind and he found himself heading out in one of the spaceships much, in the same manner, he searched for Shiro, yet he never once found Allura.

"You've got to stop." Lance's voice drew Keith away from his current course of action. He found himself drawn into yet another attempt at searching Allura out by yet another dream. He slowly turned and looked at his teammate, and yet his throat tightened slightly as he wondered if they were really still a team now that Allura and Voltron were gone.

"What do you mean?"

Lance's facial features twisted in annoyance as his arms crossed his chest. "You're doing exactly what you did when Shiro disappeared."

"I found Shiro, remember?"

"No. You found his clone." Lance lifted a hand and pointed angrily at his chest. "Plus, she was my girlfriend."

A slight pang of jealousy hit Keith in the chest. He turned his head away in a poor attempt at not thinking of his unrequited feelings which he never said out loud to Allura when the chance existed. Even if he did succeed in finding her, he knew in the back of his head she was with Lance. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm telling you to butt out."

Keith felt a frown spread across his face. Something bothered him regarding what Lance said, yet mentally he couldn't figure out the exact issue. His hands reached up and gripped his arms tightly. Mentally he worked out what he should say to Lance.

"Did you hear me, Keith? This is none of your business."

The words Keith said next came out of his mouth quickly. "How is what happened to her your business alone? What happened to Allura didn't just affect you."

A rather murderous look appeared on Lance's face and Keith found himself turning away from the other paladin. Mentally the words said stung, yet the things Lance said and did still hurt despite the time the team spent working together. Keith started forward and headed towards the hangar. The spacecraft created so the people of Earth might fight the Galra loomed in front of him, yet something told him Lance followed close behind.

"You shouldn't be doing this." A voice from the shadows made Keith turn to see James standing there watching him carefully. Memories of the young man mentally bullying him during their time at the academy resurfaced, yet Keith found himself pushing back the feelings he felt. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lance indeed did follow him.

"You as well?" Keith glanced back towards Lance. His facial features twisted with hurt. Mentally he knew his teammate was, in fact, angry at him for pursuing his search for Allura. "...though I guess you're more concerned about me breaking yet another rule or something and will likely tell Shiro."

James turned his head to look at Lance. "Let me guess. You don't think he should be going out with these anomalies that green monkey dude keeps picking up on, right?"

For a few minutes, Lance's blue eyes widened. A rather sheepish look appeared on his face and he turned his head away. "Well, yeah..."

Keith felt his eyes narrow, yet after a few seconds of neither Lance or James physically moving to stop him he turned towards one of the spacecraft and started up the ladder. Nobody stopped him from getting in, yet as he slipped into the seat and heard the cushioning squeak a little, he also heard James speak up again. "If I tell Shiro it isn't because he's the captain of the Atlas, just to let you know."

A turn of his head let Keith look James in the eye, but he also saw Lance climbing in with a spare spacesuit he'd somehow grabbed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going with you. After all, Allura's _my_ girlfriend, so if anybody is going to save her it's going to be me."

"This is about Allura, not yourself." Keith turned towards the flight controls and pushed a few buttons which in turn brought the engines to life. Soon the two found themselves flying in deep space. The light of the stars greeted two paladins. Despite flying with a companion the expanse felt lonely.

"Keith..."

Keith's head snapped in the direction he heard Allura's voice coming from. His eyes widened and he found himself piloting the spacecraft in the direction. If he paid Lance any mind he would notice his fellow paladin sulking. "This is dumb. You'll never find her. I don't even see why you think you could."

"I don't need this from you, Lance." A warning bell went off in Keith's head. Instinctively Keith slowed the spacecraft so he might see what drew his attention. His eyes narrowed upon seeing a slight distortion off one side of the space shift. His arms reflexively pulled on the controls so the spacecraft moved away from the anomaly.

"Hey. What's..." Lance's comment from the backseat was interrupted by the pull of the anomaly which appeared. Keith couldn't see his fellow paladin's reaction, but the tone of Lance's voice indicated he wasn't happy. "You got us caught in an anomaly? How dumb can you get Keith?"

"Not appreciated, L..." Keith felt a sudden yank as the anomaly expanded. The spacecraft proceeded towards the anomaly despite Keith's attempts at redirecting their trajectory. Another jolt lurched the spacecraft into a tumbling motion. Keith observed a wide array of flashing colors, yet the controls didn't respond to his touch. Despite the lack at control the spacecraft somehow hurtled towards an opening. Keith's eyes widened upon seeing the sight of land and air spinning around them.

"Where..." Lance's question was interrupted by something hitting the windshield. Keith felt his body yanked from the cockpit meaning both the window of the cockpit and his bell gave away, but he thought he heard Lance call out his name as gravity carried him towards the ground below. In the back of his mind, Keith hoped the jetpack of his paladin uniform still worked.

"Lance!" Calling out for his fellow paladin proved fruitless for the spacecraft now headed in a different trajectory in its decent. Keith closed his eyes for a brief second and listened to the sound of the jetpack built into the uniform as he attempted utilizing the device to slow his descent. Somehow despite the lack of control, he managed to slow the descent, yet his body still made an impact when he unceremoniously hit the branches of a tree.

Pain coursed through his head, but he felt the helmet made on Earth as a replacement for his old helmet break and fall away. Keith's eyes opened and closed to the rhythm of the blood which he felt dripping from his body, but soon he blacked out completely.


	2. Winter Tree

**Winter Tree  
****_Winter Tree_**

The frosty air smelled sharp and crisp in the early morning as the sun beat down upon the snow-covered field. The rays of sun melted the snow slightly making the ground glistened underneath his feet. With each step came the sound of crunching snow, yet the slight chill in the air proved invigorating. Lance enjoyed his early morning walks by himself near the Castle of Lions despite his normally sociable disposition.

Recently the early morning walks proved a distraction from the lull in conflict the pilots of Voltron faced recently. Lance found himself anxious in anticipation of something happening. Rarely did the crew ever go long periods of time without having a mission, yet the usual couple of days between became a couple of weeks. Boredom started setting in along with the worry something major would occur, yet the quiet atmosphere made the peace appear real.

Lance walked briskly and kept his hands tucked into his armpits for warmth. His breath came out in deep puffs, yet he kept his eyes focused on the ground. As such he didn't see the tree in the middle of the field as he approached, but his mind was in fact on other things, such as the leader of Voltron pointing out he might want a warmer jacket for his walk when they passed by each other that morning. Keith had in fact been right, or in the very least Lance might have taken a pair of gloves with him.

Eventually, Lance stopped for a few seconds and caught his breath. His eyes blinked away the sunlight shining in his eyes and mentally attempted making out the silhouette of the tree which grew in the middle of the field. The branches bowed slightly form something stuck in the tree, yet the sun rising from behind prevented Lance from discerning any details. He instead started walking in the same brisk manner as before, but his mind didn't register anything as amiss even when he arrived at the tree and started looking up at the trunk area.

In front of his eyes, an object fell with a loud thud. Lance's eyes blinked a few times before stepping over towards the object. The first thing his mind registered was the object which landed in the snow. Lance took a deep breath upon seeing a helmet which looked like the helmets he and the other pilots of Voltron wore when piloting the lions. His blue eyes took in the way the red helmet was cracked, but he sucked in his breath upon registering the ruby red blood droplets against the pure white snow.

Instinctively he looked up. "Shit."

He saw a badly injured person stuck up in the tree, yet even more striking for the Voltron piolet was the fact he recognized the person. The person in question wore a uniform very similar to the uniform he wore when piloting the red lion, yet this suit was red like the leader of the Voltron pilots. Even the mullet haircut was something Lance recognized, yet the facial features of the person seemed far more youthful than _their_ Keith.

A sigh escaped Lance's mouth. Previous experience from the Voltron crew dealing with alternate universes meant the appearance of another Keith honestly didn't phase him, yet Lance knew the injuries _that _Keith sustained were simply a start of the trouble which would come. Questions of what kind of universe this other Keith came from and what differences there were rattled through his brain.

Shaking his head, Lance pushed any contemplation of where _that_ Keith came from and grabbed onto the lowest branch and hoisted himself up into the tree and started climbing. He proceeded carefully up the tree at a slow and steady pace. A groan from above made him look up at the young man hanging from the tree. Lance took a deep breath before speaking. "Hold on kiddo. Uncle Lance is coming to get you."

Lance continued climbing until he stepped onto a branch which allowed him easy access to _that_ Keith. The Voltron pilot started examining the tree branches. His blue eyes took in the broken branches in the dense foliage of the tree from above which indicated _that_ Keith came from above. Lance examined the lower branches for a safe way down while carrying a person next which took a few minutes.

He turned after his examination towards _that_ Keith and began tugging the injured young man off the branch in a gentle manner. Lance noticed that Keith had a scar running from his lower eye across his cheek where _their _Keith did not. Another groan escaped from _that_ Keith's mouth. "Shush now. Uncle Lance is going to get you down and take care of you, okay."

The process of going down proved much slower than the process of going up, yet one wrong step would bring both Lance and _that_ Keith crashing down. _That_ Keith didn't need any more injuries. When Lance arrived at the final branch he carefully lowered _that_ Keith down so when he dropped the injured young man he would slump against the tree trunk instead of falling onto the ground.

Lance jumped down. After regaining his footing, he gently lifted _that_ Keith up over his shoulder and started heading back to the Castle of Lions. Another groan escaped from _that_ Keith's mouth.

"Shiro."

"Who?" Lance's breath came as a frost.

_That _Keith didn't answer the question and instead weakly said. "Help."

"Don't worry. I'll help you kiddo."

_That_ Keith remained quiet until they were almost all the way back at the Castle of Lions. "Mom-mum."

Lance froze slightly and looked over his shoulder at _that_ Keith. Eventually, he started walking again. "So, you're from an actual universe where you got to know one or more of your parents? I guess that's a good thing."

Upon arriving at the Castle of Lions he started towards the infirmary. "Lance?"

He turned towards the voice of the royal advisor and saw the Altean looking at him with a look of astonishment. "Sorry Coran, but I've got to get him to the infirmary."

Coran took a deep breath. "I'm not sure where I should begin. I'm personally wondering where you got _another_ Keith from, but if you stopped and examined his injuries before hauling him all the way back here. I'm also curious regarding why you didn't call any of us for help with this young man."

Lance let out a deep sigh knowing full well he was in for a lecture.


	3. Crash Landing

The very thought Allura might call out to Keith instead of him honestly rubbed Lance the wrong way. He purposefully convinced himself Keith was compensating for something, yet in the back of his head, Lance felt an inkling this wasn't true. The fact Keith wouldn't let go and stop butting in where he wasn't wanted also didn't sit well with Lance, nor did the idea Keith might rescue Allura and not him.

He went with Keith because he wanted to be the one rescuing Allura, not the one hurtling through a wormhole towards an unknown location. He didn't ask for something to crash into their spacecraft. He didn't ask for the pilot being sucked out of the cockpit either. He didn't expect a situation where he would crash in one of the spacecraft he dreamed since childhood of flying and shut his eyes tightly.

Lance expected a loud boom and fire burning his skin painfully along with a multitude of broken bones. Instead the sound of wind rushing by while the spacecraft fell from the sky, he heard the sounds of branches breaking, but he found himself lurching forward. Lance's blue eyes snapped open and he let out a couple of deep breaths. He felt his throat tighten and his hands reached for his seatbelt and quickly unbuckled himself from the craft.

He stood up yet wobbled slightly before toppling out of the craft onto the ground. Lance hit the ground hard and let out another breath. He pushed himself up from the ground and sat with his back against the craft. He took a deep breath and looked up at the blue sky wondering if anyone would look for them, and yet in the back of his head he knew they'd entered a wormhole yet had no access to the lions.

"Maybe..." Lance looked up at the sky before running a thumb over the Altean mark under the eye Allura left him. He wanted for some kind of miracle which would allow him to be a paladin of Voltron again, yet also have Allura in his arms, but the miracle didn't seem within the realm of possibility. His mind drifted to the reason he was in the situation he was currently in and Lance closed his eyes.

The vision of Keith getting sucked out of the spacecraft was etched into his brain but thinking about that exact moment made his stomach start curdling. Lance lurched forward onto his hands and knees. The putrid vomit landed in front of him and Lance took another deep breath while his hands clenched the ground tightly. His teeth ground together and his eyes closed painfully.

"Keith, if you're alive I am so going to kill you when I find you." Lance pushed himself up from the ground and leaned against the spacecraft. Mentally he checked himself over for any injuries. The pain he felt wasn't major and came from when the seatbelt prevented him from flying forward into the shattered class of the spacecraft. "Quiznack. I'm lucky to be alive. I've got to find Keith, though I'm not sure I want to."

A deep sigh escaped when Lance thought about his best friend and the Space Mice. He felt having someone to chat with while traversing the alien terrain might pass the time faster. Hunk, of course, might complain every so often about how the unknowns regarding the alien terrain scared him, but he and the Space Mice would listen to Lance's personal woes and follow up with attempts at cheering Lance up. In the back of his mind Lance knew he needed such cheer, but every time his thoughts wandered towards having a more cheerful attitude he found himself remembering what happened to Keith.

A shiver ran down Lance's spine when he wondered what would happen to him. Glancing around, his mind drifted towards wondering what exotic plans Hunk might find on the planet, but what kind of new dishes would think up as well. Thinking about Hunk's love of cooking calmed Lance down, yet he didn't stop and think about how he was weaponless. In the back of his mind, the universe was at peace, for peace was the reason Allura sacrificed herself.

"Ugh. More unhappy thoughts." Lance closed his eyes as he continued in the random direction he chose. "She sacrificed herself so the universe would be whole again, but without her..." He liked thinking he wasn't whole without her in his life. "Anyways, no use pondering that beyond the fact Keith was stupid enough to think he could find her. I mean, really. I'm the one she chose. Me! Not Keith!"

The sound of a branch snapping made Lance stopped. His blue eyes darted down and looked at the ground, but no stick lay under his foot. "Quiznack."

He slowly lifted his arms up into the air in an act of surrender. Mentally he cursed his luck of not having a weapon, but also the lacked the kind of hand to hand combat training Shiro and Keith had. He watched an alien who looked like an almost human step out from the forest and pointed a gun at him. His eyes widened upon seeing they looked almost human except for their pointed ears. "Wait. Are you Altean?"

Yet these aliens lacked the markings he knew marked the face of an Altean, but in fact, now marked his own face. Soon a few other's appeared and pointed their guns upon his personage. Lance continued standing with his arms in the air.

"Look..."

"Who are you?" The leader of the group asked. Lance couldn't help but notice the leader was female.

"I could ask the same thing. You look like Alteans, but you're missing the Altean marks on your faces. Otherwise, I'd think I landed on Altea."

"You are on Altea, but Alteans do not have any kind of marking."

Lance let out a sigh of annoyance. "Okay. So not the planet Altea I know, but definitely an alternative universe. I guess I should be grateful that this isn't the universe where Alteans are evil and rob people of their free will. Scratch that. Alteans may still be evil in this universe."

"Would you shut up." The leader of the group let out a deep sigh but rolled their eyes.

"Well, I'd certainly like to shut up. Shut me up with you of course?" Lance let both eyebrows go up a couple of times in a flirtatious manner, but his mouth twisted into a grin. "What do you say we..." The tip of the gun shoved into his chin and Lance swallowed. "Okay. Shutting up now. I promise I'll behave."


	4. Entrapment

**Winter Tree  
****_Entrapment_**

The blackness felt more welcoming than the pain which coursed through his ribs, arms, and head. When the pain started up again he heard her voice. "Keith..."

Bright images flashed in front of his eyes as he attempted reaching out for the retreating figures. Keith first saw the back of his mother, then the back of Shiro and then finally Allura not looking at him. He heard Shiro's voice speaking firmly as she walked away from him. "We should have been good enough for you Keith."

"Allura! If I did anything wrong, I'm sorry. I really am happy with the way things are, but if I acted jealous in any way, I apologize. I really don't care that you're with Lance since that makes you happy." Keith watched Allura start turning towards him, but before he could see her face a grey haze covered his vision as he felt pulled into a more conscious state.

"Oh my. I knew Lance found something, but..."

Keith felt his throat reverberate slowly as his body instinctively responded to the sound of Allura's voice. "Alu?"

"Can we keep him!" The voice was definitely the voice of Allura, yet in the back of Keith's head, something didn't feel right. He at first thought the issue was that something instinctively told him the Allura speaking wasn't his Allura. Keith mentally chided himself regarding that thought and changed _my_ to _our_, yet in the back of his mind, he wondered how he knew.

"Allura.."

Keith's eyes snapped open despite the bright light upon hearing the sound of his own voice not coming from his own throat. Instinctively Keith found himself bolting up straight despite the pain riveting through his body. He gulped back the air which surged into his lungs painfully. His eyes darted around the room taking in everything in quickly.

A man who looked like Lance sat nearby in a chair with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Keith's eyes took in the fact this Lance looked older than the Lance he knew, but still wore the clothes made from denim like the Lance he knew. Hovering on the other side of the bed was a man who looked just like Coran, but with no Altean marks. Keith almost flinched at the rather serious look on Coran's face which indicated one of the paladins was in trouble.

The reaction ceased upon seeing one of the other two people in the room. Keith's eye widened upon seeing an Allura in front of him, but she wasn't like their Allura. Instead of white hair, hers was a golden blonde, but her skin wasn't a milk chocolate color and instead pale in color. The only similarity was her vivid blue eyes. For some reason, this Allura looked more like Romelle instead of their Allura.

It hit hard; this wasn't the Allura he knew.

Instinct kicked in and Keith bolted towards the door where the fourth person leaned up against the doorway. Keith's vision remained focused on the gap which quickly closed as the person in the doorway moved quickly in response, yet Keith still didn't register anything specific regarding the person. Instead, his mind registered the air rushing from his lungs and his back hitting the infirmary bed as the person forced him back down.

Keith gasped briefly for a breath of air while his eyes widened in surprise. His eyes still didn't register the person in front of him. Keith attempted escaping by lashing out physically while his ears picked up the sound of familiar voices which belonged to copies of those, he heard someone calling out in dismay regarding the scene in front of them. Keith's mouth opened and he found himself baring his teeth at the person in front of him.

"Woah..." Keith wasn't sure who said that, yet his ears registered the sound of horror in the person's voice.

Whoever held him down leaned down so their face was now inches from his own and yet Keith still didn't mentally register anything regarding the person beyond the fact he felt threatened. The person spoke in a very loud and commanding voice. "That's enough!"

Keith's eyes blinked a couple of times in response to the person's words and tone of voice. On top of feeling even more pain after the person forced him back onto the bed, Keith felt long locks of hair tickle his face and his eyes registered the person's shoulder-length black hair. Mentally he recognized other familiar facial features which would help him identify who the person was a copy of, and yet before his mind completely registered the information, he instead registered the intensity of the glare. "Shiro..."

"What?" The person's facial features relaxed slightly, and Keith's eye snapped shut while sucking in a deep breath of air. He recognized the face and voice as his own but older. He felt the locks of hair stop tickling his face indicating the person moved away. "Who's Shiro?"

"Mmhh..." Keith didn't wish to divulge anything to _that_ Keith who didn't know _who_ Shiro was.

"I think it's his mom." Keith turned his head towards the voice. He mentally noted the voice was the voice which called out when Keith barred his teeth at the other version of himself. Visually he recognized an older Lance.

"No. Uh-uh." Keith wanted away from the group of strangers and attempted pushing himself up again so he might escape.

A glare from the other Keith made him flinch, but the other Keith narrowed his eyes. "I said enough."

"Keith..." Allura's voice drew Keith's attention towards the sound of her voice.

"Ahh. Even in other universes, you're such a puppy dog when it comes to the princess aren't you Keith?"

"What?" Keith's entire body tensed up and he found himself pushing against the other Keith's hands to launch himself at Lance. The pain in his body and something else kept him from acting rationally and the realization made his breath come in tightly while the other Keith continued holding him physically down.

"Lance, you're not helping either." Allura's voice – even though it wasn't the Allura from his world – felt calming and Keith closed his eyes. "Little Keith is injured."

"Wait..." Keith's eyes snapped open and he turned his head towards Allura. "How old do you think I am?"

He started struggling again when he heard the Coran lookalike let out a deep breath. "I'm afraid we need to sedate him."

"Wait. No."

His protests didn't prevent the other Keith from holding him down while _that_ Coran stuck a needle filled with a sedative in his arm. Keith felt his protests grow weak and eventually, he found himself disengaging from the world around him.


	5. Anamolous

**Winter Tree  
****_Anamolous_**

The lecture thankfully ended before they arrived at the infirmary. Upon arriving, Coran assisted Lance in getting _that_ Keith into an infirmary bed. Lance flinched when _that_ Keith let out a groan. "Help me get this young man out of these clothes so I can treat his injuries. Were you not going to contact anyone for help regarding his injuries? You aren't exactly the best at this thing."

"You're going to start lecturing me again?" Lance shook his head before helping Coran remove the top of _that_ Keith's uniform revealing a black bodysuit underneath before pulling even that away. Purple bruises lined _that_ Keith's pale skin and one of his arms. A deep sigh escaped from Coran's mouth before the red-haired Altean started doing some scans of _that_ Keith's body so he might assess the damage before applying treatment.

Coran shook his head. "It's amazing he's still alive."

"Does that really surprise you given this is a Keith from another universe?"

"We don't know that for sure. Not until the sample I drew from his blood comes back with an affirmative or not. For all, we know he may instead be a clone."

"Is cloning even possible?"

"I don't know." Coran hovered by the machine while Lance flopped into a nearby chair and looked up at the ceiling. In the back of his mind, Lance still found himself amazed when the Altean machines for DNA testing returned results much faster than those of Earth did. Coran's fingers raced towards the paper printout and examined the words printed on the paper carefully. "Yes. This is definitely Keith Kogane. Just not our Keith Kogane. Not unless of course, he ran into some de-aging agent. There are some of those out there, but they're rare."

"Okay, Coran. Got it." Lance leaned back in the chair watching the young man in front of him carefully. He found his curiosity perked by the fact _that_ Keith looked younger than _their_ Keith, but he still remembered in the back of his mind how Keith mentioned his mother. _Their _Keith didn't open up to many regarding personal matters, so knowing that little fact at this particular moment made Lance feel pleased _their_ Keith thought of him as a friend.

"Lance. Coran..." Hearing Allura's voice didn't make Lance look up, yet her change in tone told him quite a bit. "Oh me. I knew Lance found something, but..."

He wasn't surprised the other Keith reacted to Allura's voice nor was Lance surprised Allura wanted to keep _that_ Keith. He wasn't surprised with _that_ Keith bolted for the door. What surprised him was the change in _that_ Keith's facial features when _their_ Keith shoved him back onto the bed. Lance didn't recollect a time _their_ Keith lost his cool to the degree _that_ Keith just did, so the look was definitely a new experience.

The strange way Keith's eyes dilatated and the fact for a brief moment he thought _that_ Keith was bearing a set of fangs, yet he knew there were no fangs there. He was thankful when _their_ Keith brought the other under control, but even more so when Coran decided to give _that_ Keith a sedative. "Wow. Did you guys see the look on that kids face?"

_Their_ Keith glanced over in disbelief. "What look?"

'You know..."

Hunk's voice boomed from the doorway. "Some of the Alteans from the nearby village brought in a prisoner. Strangely enough..." The piolet of the yellow lion didn't finish saying what he was going to say and instead said, "So you guys found one too. The one they found is in the jail cells."

Lance watched _their_ Keith's eyebrows shoot up. Their leader said, "Care to come with me?"

Shrugging his shoulders was the answer Lance choose. The two walked towards the cell in which the stranger was being kept, but in the back of Lance's mind, he wondered _who_ the stranger was a copy of. "So, what are we going to do with the kids?"

"I'm thinking about contacting Sven."

"Why? I think we have things handled."

"Because Sven knows how to handle kids. In particular, he knows how to handle me."

Lance felt the corners of his mouth twist slightly, yet he didn't ask what Keith meant by that. In some ways, he knew why Keith said what he said. The two piolets of Voltron arrived at the jail cell and Lance took a deep breath. "Oh boy."

"It's you, isn't it?"

The piolet of the blue lion watched a younger version of himself looking up at him with the same blue eyes. "What the quiznack?"

Lance let his tongue click against the roof of his mouth. "Watch your tongue. What do you think your mother would say?"

His eyes blinked and he rubbed his eyes with his fingers and looked at his younger self again. His younger version sported strange blue marks under his eyes, yet Lance honestly didn't want to know what kind of tend would cause his younger self to tattoo his face and hoped it was makeup. He watched _that_ Lance shrug his shoulders. "She doesn't even know what the word means, so..."

Keith simply stared in awe at _that_ Lance as if he were some kind of anomaly, which in truth he was. His mouth opened almost as if he wanted to say something, and yet in situations like this Keith didn't know what to say and instead stood there like a fish out of water. Lance wasn't in the mood to tease his friend and see how Keith would react.

Instead, _that_ Lance spoke. "So, who are you? What universe have we fallen into? We're most certainly not in some future version of our universe because you don't have any kind of marks on your face and – what is Keith wearing?"

"Do you have any idea how you got into our universe?" Keith finally found his words.

"Yeah. One of those stupid anomalies which started appearing after Allura died."

"What..." Both Lance and _their_ Keith looked at _that_ Lance in disbelief.

"That, and Keith was a moron and got us stuck on the wrong side of a wormhole again."

"Say what?" In the back of his mind, Lance couldn't phantom a Keith capable of such a thing. In fact, he'd suspect his own self as the more likely culprit.


	6. Impossible Nightmare

**Winter Tree  
****_The Impossible Nightmare_**

A world where Allura was dead was honestly unimaginable.

"You heard me." _That_ Lance leaned up against the wall with his thin arms crossed. "It's Keith's fault we're here. It's always Keith's fault."

"He's kind of right." Of course, the person who always blamed himself for whatever bad thing happened to the team he led would agree with _that_ Lance. Lance reached on hand up and bopped _their_ Keith on the back of the head lightly, but Lance's eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"Sure, it's Keith's fault. Next, you're going to tell me he's not the leader of Voltron."

"He is now." _That _Lance glanced away from _them_. "I don't think I should be talking to you."

None of them heard her tiptoe into the vicinity, but her voice drew everyone's attention. "So this one is an alternative version of our Lance."

Lance watched _that _Lance perk up upon hearing Allura's voice, but a smirk spread across his face. _That_ Lance wiggled his eyebrows slightly. "Hey, Allura."

Lance honestly wanted to gag, but instead simply turned his head away. He saw _their_ Keith's eyes widen as _their_ leader gawked at the strange creature in the jail cell. Allura, on the other hand, did look away in disgust because of how _that_ Lance flirted with her. She took a deep breath. "You should let him out."

The facial on _their_ Keith's face reflected how Lance personally felt, but _their _Keith stared at his girlfriend as if she'd grown a second head. Of course, this wasn't the first time Lance saw _their_ Keith look at Allura in that manner and sometimes he found himself stepping in and interceding in their relationship. "Wait. Are you kidding? Even Keith is wondering if you're kidding princess."

"Um... yeah..." _Their_ Keith still looked a bit awestruck.

"How could an alternative version of us be evil?"

"That..." Lance glanced back at _that_ Lance, the Lance he majorly disliked.

"She's right you know. We have never, ever encountered alternative versions of us that are evil."

"Okay, Keith. We'll let mini-me out of his cell, but who's going to be in charge of him?"

"Hey!" _That_ Lance didn't like Lance referring to him as a mini-me.

A twinkle appeared in Allura's eyes and Lance let out a groan. "Why, you two are going to be in charge of him."

Lance watched the princess turn on her heels and head out of the room while Keith stared after her in disbelief. He then watched Keith look at the younger version of him in horror, but remembered Keith saying something about not knowing how to handle kids. Keith glanced away anxiously and muttered something under his breath about contacting Sven right away before disappearing. Which in turn mean Lance oversaw Lance.

"So..." _That _Lance spoke. "Does this mean you're in charge of me?"

Lance felt one side of his mouth twist in disgust as he unlocked a jail cell. "Let's take a walk. You can tell me all about _your_ universe and maybe it will help us figure a way to get the two of you back to your world."

He watched _that_ Lance's mouth twisted in annoyance. "So, Keith's here as well?"

"He's in the infirmary."

"Not surprising. He did get sucked out of the cockpit of our ship. I'm surprised he survived."

"Keith survives a lot of things you don't expect him to." Instead of building a repour with _that_ Lance, Lance instead received a glare. Lance took a deep breath and headed outside. He jammed his hands into his pockets upon arriving outside. "So, what can you tell me about your world."

"I don't know. I guess your Pidge and Hunk can figure a way for us to get back if they're as smart as our Pidge and Hunk are."

Lance let the winter air into his lungs and closed his eyes. "So, what is this about Allura being dead?"

"She sacrificed herself along with the paladins of old so the universes wouldn't be torn apart because of this special rift thing Haggar created."

Lance opened his eyes and looked up at the cloudy grey sky above. He watched his breath come out in misty puffs. "That can't be right."

"What do you mean?"

"That couldn't have been the only solution, her sacrificing herself like that. I'm surprised Keith didn't stop her, considering..."

"Seriously!" _That _Lance's anger was evident in the way his voice strained. "Are you kidding me! She's _my_ girlfriend! Not Keith's."

Lance's head jerked up but his own voice strained. "What?"

"Don't give me that! She's my girlfriend, but Keith's a moron. He's the one who got us stuck on this side of a wormhole _again, _but I don't understand why Shiro picked him to replace him as leader of Voltron over me."

"Who's Shiro?" Lance swallowed back his anger at _that_ Lance.

"You know. Takashi Shirogane, the guy you hero worshiped as a garrison cadet."

"You mean Sven," Lance's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah. In that one universe we ended up in the Shiro look-alike was definitely called Sven and not Shiro." _That _Lance stood with his arms crossing his chest while pouting in an extremely childish manner. "Please tell me Keith's not his favorite in this universe as well and gets all the attention. He most certainly doesn't deserve it, but never acknowledged me as his rival."

"You little brat!" Lance almost spat the words out. "You have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to Sven and Keith or why they're close to each other! Of course, the two of you aren't friends, are you?"

"Why would I want to be friends with that stuck up jerk. He eventually did make a good leader, but he's always getting praise he doesn't deserve. He's never, ever suffered like I have."

"Just listen to yourself!" Lance found himself hating the alternate version of himself immensely. "You have no clue what Keith's been through, but what would _you_ know about suffering, what with the wonderful life you've had growing up! But to say he doesn't deserve the praise he received..."

"I do know suffering! I lost the love of my life! I lost Allura, but Keith is most definitely a glory hog! In fact, the reason we're stuck in this universe is because he for some reason thinks he can find Allura! Him! He's not her boyfriend! He's not her soulmate! I am!" _That_ Lance pointed at his chest which he, in turn, puffed out.

"Liar! There isn't a universe out there where you'd be her soulmate. Keith is her soulmate, or doesn't the fact she wasn't calling out to you and instead was calling out to him prove that to you?" Lance grabbed the front of _that_ Lance's clothing and pulled Lance in close.

"Proof!" _That_ Lance pointed to the pale blue marks under his eyes. "These marks are proof she loves me! She kissed me right before sacrificing herself and gave me these marks as a parting gift."

Lance put his face even closer to _that_ Lance but honestly found himself wanting to throttle _that_ Lance. "Those marks aren't proof of her love for you! They're proof that you killed her!"

He watched _that_ Lance's blue eyes widen in horror and _that_ Lance's mouth open. _Something_ shoved between him and _that_ Lance forcing him to let him go, but he heard a slight hiss in the tone of voice when the person spoke. "Stop bullying Lance!"

Lance found himself looking at _that_ Lance and _that_ Keith who obviously somehow managed to escape from the infirmary despite his injuries and being sedated. Lance watched sweat pour down _that_ Keith's face as the young man held up his arms in defense of _that_ Lance. _That_ Keith's was just as stubborn as _their_ Keith. Lance rubbed the back of his head. "You're standing up for him?"

"I'd stand up for any of my..." _That _Keith glanced at the ground as if thinking about something for a brief second and then looked up defiantly. "...comrades."

"You wanted to say, friend, didn't you?" Lance felt his facial features soften for the younger Keith, but he found himself wanting to hug the poor sot. The younger Keith glanced at the ground.

_That _Lance glared at Lance. "We're not friends. Just comrades, though I'm not sure if that's even the case when Voltron took off after Allura sacrificed herself."

"Why am I not surprised."

An earsplitting bang drew their attention towards the sky. Lance's eyes widened as a rather large spaceship came hurtling towards the ground below off in the distance, but his head turned when the younger Keith spoke. "Is that the Atlas?"


	7. Atlas Falling

He didn't see Keith.

Keith was nowhere in sight when Shiro stepped into the mess hall of the Atlas, but he didn't see Lance either. Hunk sat with Pidge meaning he'd finished his shift in the galley, but in some ways, Shiro appreciated the fact both Hunk and Pidge found a place they fit into the Atlas crew. The captain of the Atlas flinched upon seeing Slav walk over to their table with his tray of food along with Romelle and Matt. Shiro still couldn't shake the memory of the worm-like creature with a cat-like face and multiple arms clinging to him when they rescued the alien from the Galra.

His eyes drifted over to where Veronica sat with most of the MFE pilots. James Griffin was missing, but Ryan Kinkade, Nadia Rizavi and Ina Leifsdottir were with her. Their Galra allies which included Krolia, Kolivan and Acxa sat at another. Shiro shook his head and got into line for his own trey of food before heading over to the table. One of Matt's honey brown eyebrows shot up as a smirk of amusement appeared on his face. "So, the captain's actually going to eat with us measly low-ranking crew members?"

"Very funny Matt." Shiro slid into a seat yet couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.

"What's not funny..." Pidge lifted up her fork and pointed it at Shiro. "... are these anomalies. Hunk, Matt, dad and I still haven't figured them out."

"I've told you," Slav stared at his trey and spoke in an ominous voice. "The universe is imploding."

"No, no." Hunk shook his head and pushed his tray away. The yellow paladin turning away food was a serious matter. "Allura sacrificed herself so the universe wouldn't do that."

Slav leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. "But we're in a universe with an impossible probability meaning it is doomed to implode upon itself."

Shiro set his fork down while his mouth twisted slightly. "Okay. So, I'm guessing I am going to regret asking this, but _why _is this an impossible reality?"

"Because the chances of _that_ Paladin getting together with the Altean Princess are..." Slav rattled off a very long number that Shiro couldn't possibly remember but effectively translated into one in million chance. "... and out of those universes where it does happen and they stay together as a couple ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of those will always implode due to..."

"Hold on!" Veronica turned where she sat and glared at Slav. "Allura likes – liked Lance. I saw her blush at him."

Shiro watched Slav shrink down in his seat. "There is a point zero one chance I am wrong."

Pidge's mouth twisted slightly. "No, I think you're right. I thought Allura going on a date with Lance was weird." The green paladin set down her utensils. "He kept annoying her, particularly when he flirted with other girls, and not because she was jealous of the other girls. He..."

"My brother isn't a ladies' man." Veronica glared at Pidge while her mouth formed a tight frown upon her dark features. Her response resulted in both Pidge and Hunk bursting into laughter which resulted in Pidge falling out of her seat. "What?"

Hunk wiped away a tear. "Oh my gosh. Lance is definitely a ladies' man."

"I think you're confusing the cartoon for reality." Veronica didn't see Ryan and Nadia's dark features twist slightly in amusement while Ina's pale features remained emotionless if not oblivious.

"Come on!" Hunk's dark hands emphasized his words by moving up and down. "His character in the cartoon was the most accurate!"

"Sorry, Veronica, but Lance did flirt with every female cadet and teacher and, well, anybody who wasn't his family I guess." Ryan's body started shaking from the laughter he held back. "Well, except Pidge who he didn't realize was a girl. So, maybe not a Casanova but definitely a ladies' man."

"Yeah. He tried it on me, and I socked him a good one." Nadia punched the palm of her hand while grinning.

"He didn't flirt with me." Ina stared at her food.

"Yeah, he did, and I socked him a good one for that as well."

Veronica opened her mouth, but whatever she was saying was interrupted by James coming into the mess hall and saluting Shiro. "Sir! I was told I could find you here."

"Okay. What's the emergency?"

"I wish to tattle on the paladins Keith and Lance and let you know they both took a ship out looking for the princess."

Everyone in the room stared at the MFE piolet waiting for Shiro to respond. Eventually, the captain of the Atlas cleared his throat. "James, why did you emphasize the word tattle?"

"Because I wasn't exactly nice to Cadet Keith in the past sir and honestly did not wish to tell you they'd left, but I'm tattling on myself letting you know I gave them a rather large head start. I am only saying anything because it has been a while and I know you would personally worry if something happened to Keith."

Shiro sucked in a deep breath of air before standing up. "Everyone to their posts. We're going after them."

The mess hall quickly emptied while Hunk grumbled slightly about missing out on the meal. Shiro walked at a brisk pace towards the bridge while Veronica followed close behind him. "I honestly didn't know Lance was, you know, doing that. If my mother knew..."

Shiro kept his eyes forward. "Things could be worse. You could have a sibling with a perpetuate need for doing dangerous things which could potentially get them killed."

"Sir, that's honestly not making me feel better."

"Sorry." The two arrived on the bridge and Shiro pushed a button. "Pidge, or anybody. Can you give me an idea of where Lance and Keith headed off to?"

"Yeah. Sending you a trajectory right now captain." Matt's voice chimed over the speakers which his typical mirth.

"Set coordinates for that location."

The Atlas crew followed Shiro's orders, but when they arrived, they found nothing. The feeling of worry which plagued Shiro worsened. Veronica piped up from nearby. "Sir?"

"I don't know. I don't see them. I don't see..." A loud thud rang through the entire Atlas as if something were pulling on the giant ship. Shiro closed his eyes and then opened them as various crew members spouted off facts which said only one thing. The Atlas was being sucked into one of the anomalies, but everything they did to escape wasn't working. "Everyone. Prepare for a potential crash landing and minimize potential casualties from said impact. Now!"

Shiro watched as his entire bridge crew secured themselves into the seats on the bridge and likewise did himself. His eyes closed as the entire ship shook, but eventually, physically felt himself jerked slightly as the Atlas crash landed. Opening them resulted in seeing more damage than any captain would like to see.


	8. Kill With Kindness

**Winter Tree  
****_Kill With Kindness_**

Normally when he woke up he didn't feel drowsy, but the initial dizziness he felt made his eyes remain closed while one hand reached up towards his forehead. His eyes pressed close for a few minutes while his memories remained foggy. He felt a dull ache in various parts of his body making him think about _how_ this happened which in turn Keith eventually figured out. His eyes opened and he took a deep breath.

His heart rate and breathing remained slow as he sat up and took in his surroundings. Nobody was in the room; possibly they thought he wouldn't wake up this soon. Keith took a deep breath and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He wobbled slightly yet started walking out of the room. In the hallway, he glanced around making sure nobody was around before heading towards the exit, or at least the direction he thought the exit was.

"_I need to find Lance so we can get out of here._" Keith continued walking at a slower pace than he wanted. The layout was similar to _their_ Castle of Lions, so he actually found the exit like he wanted. His eyes narrowed upon hearing Lance's voice, but his ears discerned two Lance's speaking. He found himself moving closer to the two while his eyes narrowed.

"Proof! These marks are proof she loves me! She kissed me right before sacrificing herself and gave me these marks as a parting gift." _Their_ Lance's words made Keith swallow and look down at the ground. Even though he'd come to accept the fact Allura picked Lance it still hurt.

"Those marks aren't proof of her love for you! They're proof that you killed her!"

Keith's head darted up. Mentally he didn't understand what _that_ Lance's problem was as _their_ Lance spoke the truth, yet Keith also knew _that_ Lance was making _their_ Lance agitated. He found himself moving forward and getting between the two Lances. "Stop bullying Lance!"

The look on _that_ Lance's face wasn't what Keith expected. _Their _Lance would have glared at him, but _that_ Lance's glare quickly softened upon seeing him, yet for some reason, Keith thought _that_ Lance was worried about him whereas _their_ Lance likely never would be. After all, he and _their_ Lance weren't friends, but a universe where they were must be an anomaly according to Slav.

That was when they saw the Atlas falling. At first, Keith stood there frozen in horror and then he said, "Shiro, mom..."

The earth shook and a rather large gust of wind rushed at them when the Atlas crashed into the ground. Instinct then kicked in and he attempted rushing towards the fallen ship even though he didn't know the direction he needed to go. He felt someone grab onto his injured arm. "No!"

Keith opened his mouth to protest _that_ Lance's actions. "Let me go!"

"No." _That _Lance tugged on Keith's other shoulder. "You're going back to the infirmary."

"No. Everyone aboard the Atlas..." Keith felt his voice strain as he reached his free arm forward. He felt an arm wrap around his chest and then felt his thin frame lifted up and over _that_ Lance's shoulder. "Hey! Put me down!"

"I don't think so." _That _Lance walked far quicker than Keith was able to, in his current condition, do on his own. Worse, Keith watched _their_ Lance smirk as if he found great amusement at his plight meaning he'd receive no help. Keith attempted pushing himself out of _that_ Lance's grip only to find himself quite stuck. He gently set Keith down.

"I'm leaving."

"No, you're not." _That_ Lance said.

"Good luck stopping him."

"Out!" _That_ Lance pointed at the door indicating _their_ Lance should leave. "Close the door behind you and wait for me out there so I can speak to Keith here."

"Fine! Be a jerk!"

Keith flinched when the door slammed shut. _That_ Lance let out a sigh. "Is he always like this?"

"I'd ask why you're so surprised, but I think our Lance would be in major denial he acts like that."

"What?" _That_ Lance looked up in surprise. "I don't... look." He took a deep breath. "Keith is sending for Sven..."

Keith recognized the name, Sven. He felt his chest tighten slightly from the anxiety which hit but dived quickly under the bed despite the pain he felt. His eyes snapped shut as he pressed himself against the floor. Instinctively his hand covered the back of the head where _that_ device was placed. His breath came in a rather heavy fashion.

"Woah! Woah! Why are you afraid of Sven?" Keith heard _that_ Lance gets onto the ground by the bed. "I don't get it. Sven is our version of your Shiro, isn't he, so _why_ are you afraid of him?"

"How do you know that?" Keith opened his eyes and twisted his head so he could look at _that_ Lance. The fact _that_ Lance treated him kindly honestly confused him.

A smile spread across _that_ Lance's face, but the smile wasn't taking amusement at Keith doing something _that_ Lance thought was stupid. "Your Lance told us."

Keith let out a deep sigh and let his eyes roll into the back of his head. He attempted pushing himself up so he might escape his current situation but found his head colliding with the bottom of the bed.

"Careful. You've already got a head injury. I still don't understand why you're afraid of Sven."

"Not Sven. Allura." Keith watched _that_ Lance's blue eyes widen in surprise.

"What?"

"You heard me." Keith watched _that _Lance carefully. The man's mouth twisted in confusion. "What?"

"I mean..." _That_ Lance let out a deep sigh and leaned on one arm so he could support himself more comfortable. "I know you hate getting on Allura's bad side." Keith knew what _that_ Lance said to be quite accurate. "But outright afraid of her?"

"We are in the universe where the Alteans have enslaved all violent alien races including the Galra with a device attached to the back of their heads preventing free will?"

"Quiznack."

Keith's eyes widened in horror. The thought of revealing he was of a Galra bloodline to _this_ version of _themselves_ honestly terrified him. "I'm not coming out."

_That _Lance sighed. "We're still fighting the Galra in this universe, so could you possibly come out for me now?"

A thought crossed Keith's mind and he closed his eyes remembering how for a brief time Allura hated him. The Altean princess found out he was part Galra and hated him for it as the Galra killed off her entire people. The thought of anyone from this universe finding out bothered him greatly. "About the Galra..."

"Well, you know. We all hate them."

"Allura the most?" His eyes remained shut.

"Actually, Allura – and Hunk for that matter – hate what the Galra do. If I were to pick the person on the team who hates the Galra the most it would be you."

Keith's eyes opened in surprise as he pushed himself out from under the bed on the side opposite of _that_ Lance. He found himself breathing hard, but still managed to say one word. "What?"

"Well..." Keith heard _that _Lance stand up. Keith pushed himself against the wall while his lip trembled slightly. "I guess it may be a bit surprising given the way you are, but I guess it has to do with the fact the Galra hurt Sven." Keith heard _that_ Lance walk to another part of the room and open something up. Keith's lip trembled andremember how he did, in fact, hate the Galra before finding out he was one, but after found himself directing that anger at what happened more and more onto himself. He found himself grinding his teeth as _that_ Lance walked around to Keith's side of the bed. _That _Lance held something out to Keith. "You've never been one to easily forgive someone who hurt someone you cared for."

"What..."

"It's an ice pack." When Keith didn't take the icepack _that _Lance stepped over and placed the ice pack onto the back of Keith's head. He reached down and gently lifted Keith's good arm to hold the ice pack in place. He then lifted Keith up off the ground and sat him onto the bed.

Keith choked. "Why. Why are you being nice to me?"


	9. Reasons for Kindness

**Winter Tree  
****_Reasons for Kindness_**

Lance honestly wanted to hug the younger Keith at that moment, yet in the back of his mind, he didn't think the action would go over well. He instead placed a hand gently onto Keith's shoulder while he wondered how he would answer Keith's question. The ice pack dropped onto the bed and Keith let out a sound indicating Lance's actions confused him. Lance felt Keith's free arm lift up and pushing him away despite Keith's injured arm. Lance then watched Keith scuttle away.

Keith now sat at the other end of the bed with his back against the headboard. His chest rose and fell, and his eyes were wide with panic. Lance carefully picked up the ice pack. "Okay. Okay. I overstepped on this one. Hunk and Allura have always been much better at this."

"What do you want from me?"

"Wh..." Lance found himself confused regarding what Keith meant. Lance let out a deep sigh before cucking the ice pack at Keith. He watched Keith swallow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Why else would you be nice to me?"

Lance narrowed his eyes in irritation and let his mouth form a firm frown. "Look..." He let his tone of voice indicating he was speaking in a serious manner rather than the humor he normally preferred using. "You said earlier I must be in major denial regarding how I act, right?"

"So?" Keith's eyes narrowed and now the young man was on the defensive.

"I'm not. I know I'm not because I'll freely admit to you right here, I have a very narcissistic personality and I can be a major jerk at times. That's not the real reason I know I'm not in denial like your Lance is." Lance let his facial features soften. "The real reason is I actually consider our Keith a good friend."

"You're lying." Keith's eyes widened in surprise and then he shook his head.

"Look, I admit Keith and I don't always..." Lance watched Keith start moving towards the edge of the bed. "...get along. What are you doing?"

"I've got to find Shiro. I've got to."

Lance's eyes widened upon realizing Keith was starting to run _again_. Lance swiftly launched himself over the bed and grabbed Keith as he made it to his feet. Lance let his arms wrap around Keith's middle, but let Keith's arms get stuck at his sides in the process. He felt Keith completely tense up and yet Lance didn't let go as he utilized his own body weight to plop them both back onto the bed.

"Let go!" Keith struggled, yet his attempt at getting lose instead caused pain and his eyes snapped shut.

Lance leaned over and whispered into Keith's ear. "I know _why_ Shiro is important to you." Hearing this in his ear made Keith go limp with shock. Lance continued whispering into Keith's ear. "You've not told your Lance because you think it will make him even more upset because he's jealous of..."

"Shut up!" Keith threw his weight forward. Instead of allowing Keith the chance of escaping he found himself crashing onto the ground with Lance on top of him. Lance started getting up but let out a slight hissing sound as he wondered if he'd managed to hurt Keith more than he already was. He felt Keith shift under him. While Lance found himself kneeling on the ground next to Keith, Keith hunkered down slightly. A few drops of water fell onto the ground as _that_ Keith refused to look Lance in the eye. "I've got find Shiro. I've got to find him, mom and everyone else."

Lance gently clapped his hands onto Keith's shoulders and felt Keith's body tremble slightly. "You're not going." Lance saw a few more tears hit the ground. "You and I both know you're a precious person to Sven, or as you call him Shiro. That's why I'm going for you."

He felt Keith tense up and then saw Keith turn and look at him. Keith's eyes were narrowed and his mouth pulled into a thin line. "Wait..." Keith pulled away again and sat with his back against the other wall like he had before. "You know? You know that Shiro is my..."

One of Lance's eyebrows lifted and he sat on his heels watching the younger Keith. "Shiro's actually told you?" He watched Keith glare at him.

"You said you knew, that this world's Keith told you. Was that a lie to get me to trust you?"

Lance let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I know that this world's Keith doesn't remember his mother."

"That makes sense."

Lance opened his eyes and looked at Keith who was now looking at him murderously. "What do you mean?"

"None of your business. You said you knew..." Keith swallowed. "You knew why he was important to me, but that was just a lie."

"He's your family, alright!" Lance found himself losing it with _that_ Keith. "I can't say anymore as I don't know _what_ your version of Sven has told you yet, but I promise if anything has happened to him and he can't tell you, I will tell you what he should have told you! Okay!"

Lance watched Keith's facial features soften. "Wait. You know that Shiro is my older brother?"

Lance felt himself relax as well. "Then he did tell you?"

Keith shook his head and looked at his feet. "No. Krolia did."

"Who?"

"She's my... our mother. She explained why Shiro hasn't told me yet." Keith's mouth twisted into a slight smile. "You and this Keith's world really are friends? I mean, you were concerned with the idea of it not being Shiro who told me."

"Now there's the Keith I know." Lance smiled. "If I let you go, our Sven and your Shiro would skin me alive, but I couldn't live with myself if something happened. Lance moved his hand and held out a pinky. "I'm going to promise you I'll do what I can to bring him back to you. Your mom and everyone else, so stay put."

Keith's eyes narrowed. "Why are you holding out your pinky?"

In some ways Lance wasn't surprised at Keith's lack of social norms; _their_ Keith wasn't much better. "It's called a pinky swear."

Hesitantly Keith lifted up his hand in the same manner, but eventually, they locked pinkies and the promise was made; Lance would go after everyone on the Altas, and Keith would stay put.


	10. That Jerk

**Winter Tree  
****_That Jerk_**

The strange Alteans – for they didn't have the markings that Lance had on his face that marked him as the one Allura picked – marched him along at a brisk pace. Eventually, they exited the woods and Lance saw a structure which looked like the Castle of Lions, and yet the Caste of Lions was destroyed. They made him change into prison garb and left him in a jail cell.

That's when an older version of him and Keith came into the room, yet he knew from the lack of marks on the other Lance's face that it wasn't a future him. He didn't care for either of them beyond the fact the alternate version of him must be just as amazing as him but did care when Allura walked into the room. Even without her dark skin and white hair he knew it was Allura.

Of course, the look of disgust on her face reminded him of how Allura acted before she started dating him.

He ended up stuck with _that_ Lance but didn't think much of it at first because any version of him must be super amazing. That was until _that_ Lance started laying into him but openly accused Lance of killing Allura. The comment stung as did the accusation Allura didn't love him. As such he couldn't help but not like the man despite the fact, they were supposed to be the same person.

Any thoughts regarding his dislike flew out the window when Keith was under protest carried back to the infirmary.

The thought of Atlas falling honestly didn't bother him, but he thought to himself, "_my world ended when I lost Allura. Why should I care._"

"Stay."

Lance froze outside the door as he stared at the person he didn't like even more, and the door closed behind _that_ Lance. In the back of his mind, he wondered how it was even this Lance gave Keith special treatment. He found himself leaning up against the wall just outside muttering to himself. "Seriously..."

"Hurry!"

"Seriously Pidge. I am..." The person speaking stopped right in front of him and stared.

Lance's blue eyes widened upon seeing an older version of his best friend. The other person, who Lance hadn't paid any attention to called out further down the hall. "Come on Hunk! Keith told us there was an emergency."

_That _Hunk left while Lance glanced at the ground in irritation and muttered under his breath. "Seriously. Even in this universe, I'm not important enough to call for an emergency." Lance stood up straight and his hands formed fists at his side. "No! I'm less important as I would have been called upon! No wonder I'm not with Allura like I should be in this universe."

Lance turned towards the door so he might knock on the door. His hand hovered at the door while his head went down. Something made him hesitate. It might have been the thought that the other Lance would be pissed off with him because he'd not followed instruction. It might have also been the realization Veronica was on the Atlas and yet he'd brushed the crash of the Atlas aside as if it were nothing.

A sigh escaped Lance's mouth and he turned around and leaned up against the wall. His arms crossed his chest while he waited for _that_ Lance to leave. The door opened and _that_ Lance stepped out, but Lance didn't like how _that_ Lance seemed quite pleased with himself. Lance let out a sound of disgust and _that_ Lance turned. "What?"

"Keith told the others about the emergency but not you. You're not that important, are you?"

Lance watched one of _that'_ Lance's eyes twitch. _That _Lance turned slightly. "_What_ exactly made you come to that conclusion?"

"If you were actually important, they would have contacted you." Lance let his tone of voice indicate his distaste for _that_ Lance and how _uncool_ he thought _that_ Lance was.

The blue eyes of _that_ Lance narrowed even more, but the look of disgust was evident on his face. "Look..." The stern looks on _that_ Lance's face made Lance flinch, but swallow back the way he felt. "I don't know what issues you personally have, but don't transfer them onto me."

"I am not!" Lance felt his throat tighten. Lance took offense with what the man said, but added _that_ as another reason he didn't like _that_ Lance. In his mind, if anyone was deflecting it had to be _that_ Lance. "It's not my fault you're not important enough to be included! I'm at least included."

_That _Lance remained silent for a few moments and then turned on his heels and started walking in the direction Lance saw _that_ Hunk and whoever else went by go. Realization hit then that the other person was _that _Pidge. _That_ Pidge was just as quick and nibble as _their_ Pidge. _That_ Lance glanced over his shoulder and said, "It's not my fault you can't see the whole picture because you are so focused on yourself."

"Excuse me! What's that supposed to mean?"

"It didn't even cross your mind that the reason I wasn't included in that memo wasn't because I'm not an important part of the team, but because I'm already doing something important."

"And what would that be?"

"I was assigned to keep an eye on you."

"You mean babysit." Lance rolled his eyes. "Call it what it is but admit it's not that important of a job."

_That_ Lance stopped walking towards where ever he was walking and turned on Lance. "You know, you're a little jerk."

"That's your opinion."

"No. It's a fact."

"You're a jerk!"

"Yeah, well unlike you I'm actually willing to admit I am one."

Lance felt his jaw drop at hearing what he just heard. In the back of his mind, he didn't understand why _that_ Lance would say _that_ of all things. Lance didn't get much time to contemplate this thought as they arrived at the place _that_ Lance was headed.


	11. Nightmare, Children

**Winter Tree  
****_Nightmare, Children_**

Elena and Alex arriving home soaking wet was far from ideal, and yet her nephew also sulked on the couch. Both of her children were quite amused at their misadventure meaning neither were turned off of using public transportation. Alex's eyebrows shot up. "Did you know that the kid who socked Lance lives in this apartment?"

"Yes." Penelope smiled in amusement.

"What!" Lance sat up straight, but his eyes almost popped out of his head. "No, just, no."

"I think he was up on the roof," Elena blurted out. "Schneider was bringing him downstairs, but he was soaking wet."

"No surprise there." Lance shoved his hands into the pockets of his garrison uniform. "Always causing problems."

Penelope pointed her finger at Elena. "You shouldn't talk about others being soaking wet young lady. Shower, eat something, homework and then to bed."

"I've got the shower first!" Alex hurried off to the hallway which led away from the family area while Elena chased after him.

"Maybe we should invite the young man and his family over for dinner." Lydia bustled about in the kitchen preparing food.

"No! Abuela, please don't invite them over!" Lance slid down on the couch letting out a groan, but Penelope caught him rolling his eyes.

"Uh-uh." She pointed her finger at him. "Don't roll your eyes. More importantly, you and I are going to go and apologize for your part in today's incident."

"I didn't do anything! It's always Keith's fault! He's the one who..."

A quick glare from Penelope shut him up. Eventually, all of the children were in bed. "Do you think Lance did nothing?"

"I don't know mommy. The impression I was left with when I finished talking with the principle was that the other students at the garrison have gotten away with picking on Keith but pushing him to his breaking point." Penelope's mouth twisted slightly. Keith and his twin brother are being raised by their older brother. He's the young man we met today."

"That Shiro person? Wasn't _nieto _complaining about Keith getting special attention from this Shiro person."

"Yes." Penelope sighed. She found herself sighing the next day over her lunch in the office of the doctor's office she worked at. The fact her co-worker put his feet up on the table didn't help, but in reality, she worried if she'd made the right decision when she let Lance ride with Shiro and Keith. Lance seemed more excited about getting a ride with his idol rather than making friends with the young man who honestly needed a friend.

"Did you hear about the plane the garrison lost?"

One of Penelope's eyebrows shot up upon hearing what Scott said, but she remembered something Shiro said to her the night before. "_You'll likely hear it on the news in the next few days, but my units returning flight didn't make it. Nobody survived..._"

"It crashed." Scott brought his hand up and let it crash down while making the sound of an airplane taking off and crashing. "Nobody survived. It was all over the news last night."

She'd avoided the news because Lance was in trouble. Leslie let out a sigh. "Now, now. We shouldn't talk about that kind of thing where our patients could possibly hear." He glanced down at a piece of paper sticking to the sleeve of his white scrubs. "Oh yeah. Your niece called and wants to talk to you." Leslie looked up. "You didn't tell your niece was a doctor."

"I've mentioned it."

"I must have forgotten." Leslie's mouth twisted slightly.

"I didn't. Your niece is hot."

Penelope glared at Scott while Leslie stared blankly at the male nurse. "Why do I keep you around?"

"Because the female patients dig this body."

The doctor let out a sigh. "No. Don't remind me, Penelope. I'm a pushover. That's why I have issues with my ex-wife and daughter. Go ahead and call your niece."

"Thank you." Penelope retrieved her phone and stepped aside.

"_Hello_."

"Hi. Veronica. I just received the message from Doctor Berkowitz."

"_Why did you let Lance ride in with Lieutenant Shirogane and Cadet Kogane?_"

"Why?" Penelope's mouth twisted slightly. "It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I believe Keith's older brother was hoping this would allow Lance and Keith to become friends."

"_Hold on a sec. Yes, that's who I'm talking to Keith._"

"Wait? Keith's in your office right now? Shouldn't he be in class?"

"_Excruciating_ _circumstances_."

"There seem to be a lot of excruciating circumstances with this kid."

"_He's not a bad kid Aunt Penelope._" Veronica switched to Spanish but suddenly cursed.

"What happened?"

"_I forgot Keith knows some Spanish." _Veronica switched back to English. "_Correction. He knows more Spanish than Lance does._"

"Are you telling me he now thinks I think he's a bad kid?" Penelope watched Scott's eyebrows go up. She lowered her voice. "Look. Put me on speaker."

"_What?_"

"Just do it."

"_Okay. You're on speaker phone._"

"Hi, Keith. Can you hear me?"

"_Um, yes Mrs. Alvarez._"

"You can call me _tia_ Penelope, okay."

"_Tia Penelope?_"

"There you go. I don't think you're a bad kid. More importantly, are you okay?"

"_Mmmm... am I?_"

"_Keith, I can't answer that question for you._"

"_Oh._"

"Let me try a different question. How did things go with you and Lance?"

"_..._"

"_Sorry, Aunt Penelope. I tried asking him that when I brought him here while Shirogane handles some things with Iverson._"

"Keith, when my kids give me silence for an answer, I assume the answer is the answer I don't want to hear."

"_Oh._"

"So, how did things go between you and Lance?"

"_He doesn't like me. I don't blame him. I don't like myself either._"

"I see." A thought crossed her mind as she heard a door entering. "How would you like to come with Shiro and Ryo to have dinner with my family?"

"_What?_" The loudness in Lance's voice made Penelope cringe. "_You can't eat dinner at my aunt's place!_"

"_Really?_"

Penelope heard the change in Keith's tone and noticed it was starting to become confrontational almost as if in defense to the confrontational tone Lance took on. "Lance. This isn't your decision."

"_Aunt Penelope!_"

"Keith is invited over for dinner as is Shiro and Ryo."

"_Then I'm coming too!_"

"_You're in trouble for skipping class again mister._"

"_That's Keith's fault!_"

"Keith's not the one who decided to skip class."

"_Yeah right! He hasn't been in class all morning. Has he been here the whole time Veronica?_"

"_Seriously? Why do you have to be so antagonistic towards Keith?_"

"_I am not!_"

"You are."

"_Well, whatever antagonist I have towards Keith, he started it._"

"Enough. Veronica, can I trust you pass my invite to Shiro? It might be on short notice, but your _abuela _is already wanting to invite them, so..."

"_Really. I'm..._"

"_You're in trouble, so no!_"

"_Aunt Penelope!_"

"Sorry Lance, but I've got to agree with your sister on this."


	12. Dishonesty

_Note - This is one of the four stories out of seven which did not get onto the long list. I felt this was rather apt given the fact my end goal was one I did not achieve like I wanted. What was that end goal? I'll say what it is on the last chapter, if I remember._

**Winter Tree  
****_Dishonesty_**

The place _that_ Lance took him was the communication room of _their_ Castle of Lions. His eyes slowly traveled around the room looking at all the members of the team. _That_ Keith seemed upset about something, and yet whatever was upsetting him seemed to amuse both _that _Pidge and _that _Hunk.

Seeing Hunk made Lance feel better until _that _Hunk glared at him suspiciously. Lance's mouth twisted into a pout and he tried giving _that _Hunk his classic puppy dog face in order to garner sympathy, and yet _that_ Hunk simply continued glaring. In fact, _that_ Hunk didn't seem as warm and welcoming compared to _his_ Hunk, but _that_ Hunk was all muscle whereas their Hunk was a bit flabby.

_That_ Pidge was of course as nerdy as _their_ Pidge and thus could be ignored.

"Lance." _That_ Keith stood there while his mouth twisted into a weak smile. His arms crossed his chest.

_That_ Lance lifted his hand up. "Sorry for showing like this, but we were outside and saw the crash. Also, Keith from that other universe escaped the infirmary."

"Wait..." _That_ Hunk's facial features softened and looked more like _his_ Hunk. "You left a Keith unsupervised in the infirmary."

"That's a good question." The sound of Allura's voice made Lance turn, but he honestly thought _she_ was just as pretty as _his_ Allura. "Keith is not known for staying put in the infirmary."

_That_ Lance took a deep breath, but his eyes twisted in worry. "He and I had a good talk." Lance didn't like the fact _that_ Lance was worried about _any_ Keith, but watched as Lance turned towards _their_ Keith. "I promised him I'd go and help those on the Atlas. It's what got him to stay."

"Atlas?" One of _that_ Keith's eyes shot up.

Lance let out a rather snide laugh. "Wait. You guys don't have an Atlas?"

"It's apparently the ship we just saw crash, but it likely caused a lot of damage coming down. There's no telling whose injured or not."

Lance watched _that_ Keith's facial expression soften before turning and looking at Allura. "Lance is right." Lance felt good _someone_ acknowledged he was right even if it was _that_ Lance. A compliment to _any_ Lance was a compliment to _all_ Lance's in existence. "Allura, can I trust you to have the infirmary prepped. It's small, but there's no telling if that ship's infirmary is actually functional. Hunk and Pidge, I'd like you to gather the equipment you'll need to make repairs if their infirmary is salvageable and take it out in that direction."

"Gotcha!" Hunk saluted and hurried after Pidge who was so much faster.

Allura smiled and started leaving, but Lance felt he needed to say something. "That's rather sexist isn't it?" _That_ Keith looked at him in confusion, but _that_ Lance back slapped Lance making him reach up and grab the back of his head. "Ow!"

"You obviously didn't know your Allura well, did you?"

"It's not my fault your Allura can't kick butt like ours can!" Lance saw _that_ Keith's eyes widen and jaw drop. _That_ Lance gave him a death glare.

"Well, since I'm apparently only good at women's things like most women are I guess Keith is right in saying my place is in the infirmary."

_That_ Keith started panicking and started after Allura who stormed out of the room. _That _Lance held up his hands. "Allura's not mad at you Keith, but this idiot here."

"Yeah, but Allura's more than just a nursemaid." _That_ Keith's voice strained.

"She knows that. You know that. You both also know she's the only one other than Coran who can run the equipment efficiently in there, but that it will be a job for more than one person in a worst-case scenario." _That_ Lance pointed his finger at Lance. "As for you, stop looking so smug with yourself. You're a very rude and inconsiderate young man."

"If I am, what does that say about you?"

"Lance!" _That _Keith snapped. "Both of you!"

_That _Lance sighed. "Yeah. Let's get our gear and get going."

"Could I change out of this..."

"No." _That _Lance snapped at Lance's request to change out of prison garb. "Wearing that will not impede you.

_That_ Keith shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, but our Lance is right. We need to get going." Lance followed after the two men but crossed his arms and stuck out his bottom lip in annoyance. He honestly hated _that_ Lance, but _that_ Lance seemed to have some kind of vendetta against him. _That _Keith cleared his throat. "So, besides what happened to Allura and this Atlas ship, what else is different about this world."

"Seriously Keith. Don't encourage him."

"Well, I'm certainly different than _this_ Lance."

"That's for sure."

"I'm not a pushover like him."

"Lance isn't a pushover." _That _Keith glanced over his shoulder in amusement.

"Oh yeah, he is." Lance pointed at his face. "One difference is the Alteans have these marks."

"You're not Altean," _that_ Keith said.

"Of course not. I have these marks because Allura chose me."

"Good for you."

"Keith, really. Don't encourage him."

"Our Allura's also got darker skin than hers, but her hair is more of a whitish blonde." Lance let out a deep sigh. "I don't get why this Lance isn't with her."

Lance watched _that_ Keith look right at _that_ Lance. "Why aren't you with Allura?"

_That _Lance turned his head so he could glare at _that_ Keith. "Really? For someone who's supposed to be a genius you certainly are an idiot."

"Well, that's not something that's changed." Lance was pleased _that_ Lance recognized Keith was an 's eyes caught sight of something white. "Over there."

The three humans headed over and saw a majorly damaged Atlas. A creaking sound was heard right before Kolivan stepped out with an injured Pidge in his arms.


	13. Galra Nightmare

_Note – An anonymous reviewer asked where my inspiration for my recent updates came from. The inspiration for "Child of the Dark Moon", "Devil's Advocate", "Free!Dom", "Gemini, Touch the Sky", "Taming Destiny", "Wings of Home" and "Winter Tree" comes from a quick glance through of the sixty-five prompts for Open Novella over on Wattpad. This list of prompts is available for anybody to use for inspiration, so if you're currently looking for such I suggest checking it out._

**Winter Tree  
****_Galra Nightmare_**

Keith wasn't expecting to see Galra coming out of the ship.

Of course, Keith wasn't sure what he thought of _that_ Lance either. He felt both _their_ Lance and _that_ Lance were both right despite the fact neither thought the other was right. Of course, _their_ Lance would, in fact, argue Keith was being his usual self and only agreeing because he would agree with anyone who said he'd done something wrong.

Keith also knew _that_ Lance and _that_ Keith came from a universe which differed from _theirs_. They'd already learned the Allura from _that_ universe was dead. They'd also learned _that_ universe's Sven was called Shiro. _That_ Keith also had a scar on his face, whereas he did not, yet there was no telling how that scar came about. _That_ Lance was also not like _their_ Lance.

None of this prepared him for a Galra coming out of the ship.

Keith's hand moved towards his dual blades he kept on him while taking in the Galra in front of him. The Galra was tall, muscular and purple like most Galra and his eyes glowed yellow. There was a scar across this Galra's right eye, and his hair was pulled into a long, pale braid, but the light markings were contrasted with red markings.

More importantly, this Galra held a prisoner in his arms thus making jumping in attacking the enemy a problem. He suspected this Galra was a prisoner, as his garb differed slightly from what Galra normally wore, but his yellow eyes narrowed slightly while looking him in the eye which in turn felt quite disconcerting. The movement behind the Galra made Keith wonder if there were more escaped prisoners.

"Keith..."

Keith's eyes widened, but his mouth opened. Whoever this Galra was, he spoke Keith's name in a manner which felt too casual for someone who was an enemy. "I don't know you."

"The green paladin needs treatment."

Keith heard a curse escape from _their_ Lance's mouth, but something told him _their_ Lance was thinking along the same lines. The Galra was hoping they would let their guard down. _That_ Lance seemed focused on something else. "Hey! You told me not to use the word quiznack."

"Quiznack."

"Lance? Is that you?" One of the figures moved out of the shadows behind the Galra but didn't seem bothered by the fact there was a Galra standing in front of them.

"Hunk!" Keith heard _that_ Lance start forward, but then heard _their_ Lance clear his voice.

_That_ Hunk paused in the doorway, but the sight of the young Hunk brought back memories of _their_ Hunk at that age. This didn't distract him from the enemy in front of him. Keith's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

_That_ Hunk's eyes widened in horror, but the soft woeful look didn't dissuade Keith in any manner. "What do you mean who is he? He's Kolivan. Don't you remember, Keith?"

"That is not the red paladin of our universe."

"Hey! I'm the red paladin as I'm the pilot of the red lion!" _That_ Lance snapped. "Well, I was before the lions disappeared."

"So on top of _killing_ your universes Allura you ended up losing your universes lions as well?"

If they weren't in such a serious situation Keith would roll his eyes at _their_ Lance. _That_ Hunk noticed. "Woah. There are two Lances." _That _Hunk only briefly focused on _that_ Lance and _their _Lance. "Could we possibly all just get along? I mean, we're not the enemy, are we Kolivan?"

"I doubt he'll trust my word on that."

"Yeah, but..."

Something blue moved out from the shadows making one of Keith's eyebrows shoot up. The creature was a beautiful cosmic wolf, yet Keith knew the beauty hid the ferocious nature of the creature which was similar to that of an Earth wolf. For some strange reason the creature perked up at seeing Keith, but his tongue lolled out in a similar manner to an excited pet dog. This made Keith feel disconcerted.

The next thing he knew the cosmic wolf was rushing towards him as _that_ Hunk yelled out, "Cosmo! No!"

Keith's hands gripped onto the handles of his blades as the wolf lunged, yet the cosmic wolf utilized its teleportation ability so that its paws pressed onto Keith's shoulders knocking him off his feet making him drop both blades. The next thing Keith knew, he was teleporting with the cosmic wolf to some unknown location with a metal floor which he hit hard. "Owe."

He expected the wolf to lunge for his throat, but instead, the wolf simply sat on top of him. More importantly, the cosmic wolf seemed quite pleased with itself in the same way a dog might when doing something to please its owner. Keith's eyes blinked before his arm reached up and shoved the cosmic wolf off of him. A shiver ran down his spine when the cosmic wolf attempted leaning into him as he stood, almost as if begging for affection like a dog.

Seeing such a beautiful creature reduced to such a state irritated him, but he quickly realized he was standing in a room with a bunch of strangers. He did recognize one face despite the black hair having turned white, but Keith chocked out a name. "Sven."

Except the person wasn't Sven and their eyes narrowed. The cosmic wolf continued learning into Keith, but the sound of someone opening the door made Keith turn his head slightly. His throat tightened upon seeing a female Galra, but this Galra was, in fact, all to familiar.

He remembered the eyes, the hair and the markings on her face along with her pointed ears. After all, Keith still remembered the Galra attack which killed his and Sven's parents which in turn meant they were separated. Nobody believed him when he described a purple monster who'd killed his family, but she was now in front of him. "Bitch."

Sven's fist – a mechanical arm to be exact – collided with his face knocking him backward onto the floor. As Keith started blacking out from the blow he heard Sven crack his knuckles, but say, "You're not our Keith."


	14. Barrel of Monkeys

**Winter Tree  
****_Barrel of Monkeys_**

A Galra stepping out of the Atlas was certainly unexpected, but so was the sight of any Galra carrying an injured person as if they were attempting to save them. Lance didn't know how to think or act, yet he knew in the back of his head how _their_ Keith would in fact react. A quick glance over at Keith confirmed he was on the defensive, but he didn't like how the Galra spoke his name as if they were allies.

Unfortunately, Lance found himself distracted by _that_ Lance. Paladin was obviously what they called the pilots of that world, but Lance couldn't imagine not being the blue pilot of the red lion, yet _that_ Lance seemed possessive of the position. In the back of his mind, he remembered _that_ Lance mentioning the younger Keith wasn't always the leader which means he would have been assigned a different lion.

... the red lion.

A flash of blue made Lance turn his head and see the cosmic wolf come out of the Atlas, but his eyes widened as the wolf suddenly rushed Keith. _That_ Hunk yelled, "Cosmo! No!" right before Keith and the wolf disappeared. Lance felt his throat tighten before turning on _that_ Lance. "What the hell was that?"

"That would be Cosmo." _That _Lance looked away in amusement while letting his arms across his chest. "He's part of our team."

"What kind of moron keeps a cosmic wolf around?"

Apparently, Lance walked into the bait. _That _Lance looked him in the eye. "Keith."

Lance let one of his hands reach up and touch his forehead while he swallowed back his panic. Keith taming a cosmic wolf or any wild creature for that matter honestly made sense, yet _their_ Keith also had major respect for wild creatures and felt they belonged in their natural habitats.

"Um. Older Lance?" Hearing the voice of the younger Hunk made Lance turn his head. "I wouldn't call our Keith stupid for that. Cosmo kind of imprinted on him because he rescued him and raised him."

Lance sighed. "Okay. That actually makes sense."

"Excuse me." The Galra named Kolivan cleared his throat. "As I said before, the green paladin is injured and is in need of medical attention." Lance looked at Kolivan, yet couldn't help but feel wary of him. "If it helps, you may take me, prisoner."

"It does."

"Lance! I mean, older Lance!" _That _Hunk's lip trembled. "Kolivan is our friend."

"Just take the green paladin from him." Lance watched _that_ Hunk comply and stepped behind Kolivan and fastened the Galra's wrists behind his back. "Let's get going. You wouldn't happen to know where that cosmic wolf took our Keith, do you?"

"The red paladin's companion is unpredictable."

"Great."

"Are you sure this is necessary?"

Lance didn't like hurting Hunk's feelings even if _that_ Hunk wasn't _their_ Hunk. "Sorry, but this is the way it needs to be."

"This is the way it needs to be." _That_ Lance's reaction wasn't surprising either anymore.

"Keith wouldn't do this."

"Yes, he would." Lance continued walking forward.

"Wait.." _That_ Lance sounded confused.

"Actually, you're right. His usual reaction is to kill a Galra on sight."

_That _Lance hurried ahead and started walking backward. "Are you kidding me?"

The obnoxious thing thankfully tripped over a root and let out a sound of pain. Coran was helping _their_ Pidge and _their_ Hunk at the entrance by bringing some first aid supplies, but all three looked up at Kolivan in horror. Lance let out a sigh. "Coran, could you possibly see the prisoner to a jail cell."

"You're really..." _That_ Hunk sounded as if he were going to cry. Lance placed a finger to his lips indicating he didn't want to hear the complaint.

"Let's get your Pidge to the infirmary."

"Yes, sir." _That _Hunk looked as if he were going to cry, but both younger versions of him and Hunk followed after with no questions.

Lance opened the door of the infirmary. "Sorry for getting back so quickly Keith. We already have an injured person to treat and I'll head back out looking for Shiro like I promised when we get Pidge taken care of. Okay."The younger Keith simply stared at his injured friend. Lance next turned to Hunk. "Okay. Could you give him to me so I can..." The color drained from Hunk's face. "What?"

"Our Pidge is..." Keith started.

A groan escaped the lips of _that _Pidge as he lifted his hand up. He spoke in a slurred manner ."... is a girl."

Her arm flopped down while Lance's jaw dropped. He felt Allura walk over and gently pushed his jaw into place. She folded her arms behind her back and smiled at the poor young man holding Pidge. "Hunk, sweetie? Could you possibly put Pidge onto the bed for me so I can look her over? I promise Lance will not be involved in the examination."

"Hey!" Lance felt his throat tightened. "You make me sound like a pervert. I _really_ didn't know _their_ Pidge was a girl."

"I know." Allura closed the curtains around the second bed while the three from the other world stared.

Eventually _that_ Lance let out a mocking laugh. "You thought she was a he."

Lance honestly wanted to throttle _that_ Lance. Keith turned his head so he could look at Lance from where he sat on the other hospital bed. "Even though he didn't figure it out on his own I bet he would have figured it out a lot quicker than you did."

"He is right Lance. It took you, like, forever to figure it out."

"Okay. When did you guys figure it out!"

"The Holt only have two kids and I knew Pidge wasn't Matt, so that left Katie."

"I read her journal. But I kind of knew before that. I kind of would rather not go into that." Hunk turned towards Keith. "By the way..."

"Really. You guys are jerks." _That _Lance walked over to a corner and sat down with his b back to everyone.

"Really?" Lance turned towards Hunk. "Is he always like this?"

"I'd like to think one day he'll end up being a mature adult like you."

Lance shook his head at what _that_ Hunk said, but Keith seemed to agree. Lance wasn't sure _that_ Lance would ever be like him. The curtain around the bed opened. "All done."

Katie waved from the bed. "Hi, guys." She frowned. "Wait. I thought Kolivan and Cosmo were with us."

Lance saw Keith's facial features twist in horror and let out a sigh. "Your Cosmo kidnapped our Keith. As for Kolivan..."

"He stuck him in jail." Hunk looked sheepishly at the ground.

"He what!"

_That_ Lance looked over his shoulder at him almost as if he enjoyed watching Lance squirm. Keith looked over at Katie, but the looks on either face should have forewarned him trouble was coming. Katie let out a sigh. "Oi. Big Lance."

"What?"

"I got a secret."

"Sorry." Allura glanced over at Keith. "Unlike someone else the medicine we gave her is actually taking."

Katie motioned for Lance to walk over, but she wiggled her finger. He let out a sigh and leaned over to hear her very loud secret. "I'm going to marry you when I come of age."

"Say what!" _That _Lance stormed over with his hands balled into fists while Allura held back her laughter.

"Um, guys..."

"Not you. Him. He's not a pervert like you are."

Lance felt his mouth twitch while Allura hid a laugh behind her hand. He glared at her indicating she shouldn't encourage _that_ Pidge which made her laugh out loud.

"Guys."

"I am not a pervert."

"Yes, you are."

"I..."

"And you can't stop me from marrying the guy I want to marry," Katie spoke in a sing-song voice.

Lance let out a sigh and decided to humor her. "Fine. I will marry you."

"You'll what." _That_ Lance getting made wasn't a surprise.

"Guys, I really..."

"However, I think in six-years you'll grow up and want to marry somebody else."

Katie let out a giggle. "You think I'm twelve."

"Aren't you?"

"Here is a hint. I've only got two more years to go."

Lance blinked in horror. "What?"

"Of course that depends on where you are. I'm actually able to marry you _now_ in some places with parental permission 'cause I'm sixteen."

"Yeah, but your parents aren't here."

"They're on the Atlas, but if anything were to happen to them I bet that would make my older brother or Shiro my legal guardian, so..."

"Guys! Keith is gone!"

Lance turned his head and confirmed that Keith was indeed gone. He looked back and saw Katie smiling from ear to ear. "You little..."

"Imp? Monkey?" She continued smiling but spoke in a sing-song voice. "I know that."


	15. Unexpected

**Winter Tree  
****_Unexpected_**

Keith slipped away despite wanting to see how the scenario played out. He didn't know where he was heading and for awhile meandered. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. "Patience yields focus." Yet finding Kolivan was not like finding the red lion. He opened his eyes and let out another deep breath. "Of course, that isn't going to work.

"What are you doing out of the infirmary young man?"

Keith's eyes widened upon hearing the familiar voice. "Coran." The Altean advisor crossed his arms reminding Keith of _their_ Coran, but for some reason honestly seemed like the best policy. "I would like to see the prisoner."

_That _Coran's eyes blinked. "Wait? You know about the prisoner?"

"Hunk blabbed."

"Hunk blabbed?"

"Yes." Keith felt his mouth twist into a smile despite the fact he wasn't feeling a hundred percent yet.

"And you want to see him?" _That _Coran sighed. "I am not sure that is a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Our Keith will be pissed if I do."

"This Keith will be pissed if you don't." This comment made Coran stare at Keith.

"Will you keep sneaking out of the infirmary until I do?"

"Yes. So you might as well let me, or else I'll keep escaping until I find the prison area on my own." Keith watched _that _Coran sigh.

"Why did both Keith's need to be so stubborn? At least Allura is able to keep ours in line."

"I heard that. I guess you could say the same of our Allura."

"It makes me wish she was here. Where is she."

"She..." Keith frowned and glanced away. "Our Allura is gone."

_That_ Coran didn't press the issue, but let Keith follow him. "Here is the prisoner."

Kolivan looked up from where he sat on the prison cell bed. His arms were still secured behind his back. "Keith. What are you doing here?"

"Why shouldn't I be? You shouldn't you be in there."

"_What_..." _That_ Coran's voice rose in pitch. "He's Galra."

Keith turned towards Coran in confusion. "And?" Coran simply stared at Keith and realization set in. "Wait. Is he in there because he's Galra?"

"Yes."

Keith's mouth twisted slightly. "Then I should be in there as well."

"_What!_" Coran's voice strained again.

"You heard me."

"But you've not said why."

"Because I'm Galra."

After a few seconds of silence Coran said, "No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"I am not putting you in there."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"No, you're not."

Coran stared at Keith again before saying, "Sorry. But that thing you Earthlings call reverse psychology will not work on me."

Keith frowned, but his eyes glanced around taking in the place and saw the keys to the prison cells near the door. "Okay. Fine. I'll follow you back to the infirmary."

"Good." Coran started back not thinking anything was amiss. He was a few feet through the door when Keith snatched the keys, but Coran was even more steps away when he realized Keith was unlocking the door to the jail cell. "What the Quiznack!"

Keith slipped into the cell while Kolivan looked at him with that look which said he wasn't amused. He quickly locked the door behind him and yanked the keys in before Coran could grab them. He walked over and plopped down onto the jail cell bed and leaned up against Kolivan so his back was towards Coran.

"Young man! You unlock this door right now!"

"No."

"I think you should listen to him."

Keith glanced up at Kolivan, but he found himself honestly not in the mood.

"You don't look well."

"I'm fine."

"You're also very stubborn, like your mother."

"Takes one to know one they say."

"Coran. Have you seen..."

_That _Coran let out a sigh and pointed into the jail cell while Keith turned his head to look at _that_ Lance who was nicer to him. "Hi."

The color drained from _that_ Lance's face but for some reason, Keith found the look amusing. Lance turned towards _that _Coran. "_What_ is he doing in there? _How _did he get in there? _What _is he thinking?"

"First, I didn't let him in there. He's let himself in but taken the key in there. Second, I believe he's staging a protest. Third, he's claiming he's part Galra and thus he belongs in there because the only reason we're detaining the prisoner is that he is Galra."

Much to Keith's amusement _that_ Lance broke out into a string of curses which made even Kolivan's eyebrows rise up like Coran's did. _That_ Lance moved forward. "What happened to our promise?"

"You promised to help my friends. I wouldn't call this helping."

"Fine. I'll give you that. What is this about you being Galra?"

"Simple..."

"You're not Galra."

"I am too part Galra."

"No, you're not!" _That_ Lance snapped. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Nope."

"I... sheesh. I need to go and cool my head."

"What about..."

"Leave him. I'm going to try and come up with something."

Keith leaned into Kolivan and started nodding off. Kolivan again mentioned something about how he didn't look too good, but he ignored it. Eventually, a voice with a Sweedish accent made him jolt awake. "Lance told me you were being stubborn."

"You must be Sven. You look like Shiro."

"Ah. I believe I know where that comes from."

"You would." Keith let out a sigh. "I'm not coming out."

"Sven, he's insisting he's part Galra, but he took the keys in there with him. He's worse than our Keith."

"Yeah. I am pretty messed up."

"You've not messed up Keith, though I suspect you would like us to think that."

"Sven. Just tell him he can't be Galra."

"I am Galra. My mother is Galra."

_That_ Lance lost it. "Your mother is not Galra! She's Altean!"

"You're lying!" Keith let go of the keys to the cell and let them fall onto the bed. He stood up and clutched the bars.

"I am _not_ lying."

"Both of you are telling the truth."

Keith's eyes widened, before turning his head towards Kolivan. "What?"

"Your mother's mother was Altean." Kolivan remained as stoic as usual. "You should let them take you back to the infirmary. You're actually not acting like yourself, but I will be answerable to both Shiro and Krolia if something happens to you, so please go."

His eyes drifted towards the ground.


	16. Hidden Truth

**Winter Tree  
****_Hidden Truth_**

"_Hide._"

The memory of the Galra attack on the space colony swam around in Keith's mind while his head pounded. He couldn't remember all the details of that day such as the sound of his mother's voice let alone what she looked like. He couldn't remember the sound of his father's voice either, but at least remembered what the man looked like from the pictures.

He did remember the one order telling him to hide in the place she put him, but also the gentle hands which did so. He remembered waiting for her to return while lodged in the place she hid him but heard the sounds from outside his hiding spot of fighting going on, and he also remembered the fear he felt while waiting for her to return.

Instead, he saw the face of a purple monster he would later identify as Galra peeking in at him as he screamed, and this memory flashed through his head.

Keith's eyes snapped open. A deep breath escaped from his lungs as his eyes stared in front of him in panic. An ache throbbed in his head while his eyes closed tightly from the pain while a groan escaped from between his lips. He'd never expect Sven – or Shiro as he was called here – to slug any version of himself unless he'd managed to seriously tick him off.

"What did I do?" Keith wiggled against his restraints which kept him seated. He was in the interrogation of what he assumed was the Atlas as damage from the craft was evident.

"You called her a bitch, that's what." Shiro sat down across from him. This version of Sven's dark hair was now white, but his right arm was missing and replaced by a mechanical arm. There was a scar across his nose.

Keith narrowed his eyes at Shiro while he attempted maneuvering the bonds. The bonds felt like wire pulled from some of the ship's inner workings, but Shiro was in fact always good at figuring out solutions for pinch situations. There were only a small handful of people who could easily get the better of them, and his brother was always one of them. This version was no different, yet he didn't want to say anything to do with this one right now.

"She's in the room with us."

Keith took in a deep breath but fought to control his temper. He'd gone a long time without actually losing his temper as Sven taught him a long time ago not to let what others did make him lose his control, yet this honestly took the cake. He'd lost his twin blades when the wolf teleported him, but for some reason, Shiro hadn't removed the hidden blade and he let it slip out so he could cut the wire. "She's _what_?"

Shiro leaned back and folded his arms. "I see you and she hasn't worked through things like our Keith has. That's a real shame."

Of course, Keith never expected his own older brother who always looked out for him to be the person who managed to piss him off. He felt his restraints start to give as the blade cut through. "Why the _hell_ should I work things through with the Galra who killed our parents?"

He watched Shiro's eyes widen slightly. "Wait." The man stopped crossing his arms and leaned back, but his voice tightened as if in surprise. "You hate the Galra more than Allura does."

Keith ground his teeth together. "I get it. She didn't kill them in this universe, and they died some other way, didn't they?" He watched Shiro glance behind him, but he guessed _she_ was standing behind him and that was who Shiro was looking at. "Don't you dare! Get her out of the room!"

"Why..."

"What do you _think_ I'll do if I get lose?" Keith watched Shiro's eyes widen in horror upon realizing what Keith was talking about. "How long do you think it will take me to get out? And not me that you personally know now, but an older me with more experience?"

Keith's wrists came loose and he stood up from where he stood at the same time Shiro did. He spun around and looked murderously at the female Galra. Shiro's voice strained while the Galra female's eyes widened. "Stop!"

He, in fact, didn't follow through with his attempt to kill the female Galra, but the reason wasn't because of Shiro's words. Instead, he heard a different voice in the back of his head, one he'd not heard in years yet instantly recognized.

"_Keith. Stop_" Hearing the voice in his head made the blade drop from his hand and he physically stumbled. He startled, even more, when the female Galra stepped forward and reached out for him. He didn't expect the female Galra to pull him into her arms, yet her touch was in fact gentle. He found himself frozen in shock, but the voice continued. "_Keith..._"

"_Get out of my head._"

"_Keith, you need to calm..._"

"I said get out of my head!" Keith pushed away from the female Galra and backed away from her shaking his head.

Shiro watched him carefully, but then looked at the female Galra. "What just happened?"

The Galra opened her mouth to say something, but Keith spoke quicker. "She was in my head! Only Allura's allowed in there! And how dare you use my mother's voice, you monster!"

Shiro sighed. "I am absolutely confused. What exactly is going on with you and Allura – your Allura in this world."

"They're bonded." The voice the Galra used was definitely that of his mother.

Keith heard Shiro's voice strain. "Is that some kind of Galra thing I should know about?"

"Galra!" Keith turned and looked at Shiro in horror. He pointed at the female Galra who opened her mouth to answer again only for him to quickly interrupt. "She is _not_ our mother."

"Oh yes, she is."

"No, she's not! Our mother isn't Galra! She's Altean!" Keith watched Shiro's facial features contort in confusion.

Shiro cleared his voice. "Um, no. She's Galra." He turned and looked at the female. "And this bonding thing? Is our Keith going to go through this Galra thing?"

Keith pointed his finger at the Galra female. "You. You aren't Altean."

"He's right Krolia. You aren't Altean" Shiro glanced at Keith. "Why do you think our mother is Altean?"

"Not all Altean-Galra hybrids look like Lotor." Krolia took a deep breath. "Perhaps this will help?"

Keith froze upon seeing the purple color leave Krolia's face but swallowed at recognizing a face he'd thought he'd never remembered. His eyes drifted towards the ground. He wasn't looking forward to Allura reading his mind later on.


	17. Fragments

**Winter Tree  
****_Fragments_**

He honestly didn't care that Keith chose to escape again. What Lance cared about was that everyone else seemed to care that Keith had decided to escape. The exception, of course, was _their _Pidge who in fact helped him escape. _That _Allura had a worried look on her face which bothered Lance greatly. He hated the idea of any Allura having any kind of positive feeling towards Keith.

Hunk was, of course, panicking about Keith leaving the room and _that_ Lance attempted calming him down, but finally settled on going after Keith. Allura decided to give them some privacy but headed to the front to wait for _that_ Keith which honestly irritated Lance. "Seriously. Can you believe that the Keith and Allura from this world are together?"

"Yes."

Lance turned and looked at Pidge in horror. He opened his mouth, but Hunk interrupted. "Yeah, I am."

"Really? You didn't think that Lance dating Allura in our world was really the weird thing?"

"Excuse me?"

_Their _Pidge looked him in the eye. "You must be really delusional to think she suddenly started liking you." She turned her head towards Hunk. "And you? You weren't surprised that Allura decided to date Allura?"

"Well..." _His _Hunk glanced away.

"Hunk!" Lance swallowed.

"Sorry, but she's right. I mean, I want to be supportive of you Lance, but..."

"Come on! You said that you were surprised Keith and Allura are together in this world!"

"I'm surprised that your surprised when it's obvious those two like each other."

"Well..." Hunk glanced away.

"Hunk!"

"Our Keith is kind of shy."

"Hell, he is!"

"Oh, right." _Their _Pidge let out a laugh. "And he's socially awkward and asking a girl out is way out of his comfort zone."

"What about me! Asking Allura was outside of my comfort zone! I'm the one..."

The Pidge he really didn't like now snorted. "You're kidding, right?"

"Hunk! Tell her! I didn't ask Allura out until our last day on Earth because I was nervous."

"Really? Or was it because you knew she'd turn you down?"

"She didn't!"

"Which I never got."

"Excuse me?"

"Pidge..." _His_ Hunk, of course, tried getting everyone to get along.

"Seriously Lance did you ever ask yourself why she went out with you despite the fact she finds out annoying!"

"She does not!"

"Really? How do you know that?"

Lance hated the fact Pidge was, in fact, digging into him about the situation. "How! Because Keith told me Allura _wouldn't_ go out with me unless she liked me!"

_Mean _Pidge stared at Lance as if he were an idiot. A deep sigh escaped her lips. "Yeah. Keith is the worst person to get that kind of advice from."

"Oh, and you're so much better!"

"Hunk..." _Mean _Pidge looked right at his Hunk.

"Please don't bring me into the middle of this."

_Mean _Pidge looked Lance in the eye. "How about pity?"

"Shut up!" Lance found himself heading towards the door in anger. He honestly hated her right now, but his arms crossed his chest in frustration. He didn't know where he was going or how long he was gone, yet somehow eventually found his way back. What he did know was that he ran into Sven and _their_ Keith along with that really obnoxious Lance, but that _their_ Keith had a rather dejected look on his face. "Oh. So you got caught by a version of Shiro who's actually willing to punish you?"

Sven's head jolted up. "I honestly do not like you."

Lance's eyes widened and his mouth dropped. "You don't know anything about me!"

"I've heard enough about you from our Lance." Sven nudged _their_ Keith into the infirmary.

"That's so not fair!" Lance glared at _that_ Lance. "Why did you have to bias him against me?"

"You're the one who was an absolute jerk to Keith right now, yet you expect Sven to like you?" _That _Lance watched Lance open his mouth. "And don't tell me Keith deserved it, because he doesn't. Lance's mouth snapped shut before turning on his heels and walking away. "Where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here!" Lance glared over his shoulder. "Don't follow me! I don't like you!"

"That's because I don't let you get away with your crap!"

The comment from _that_ Lance, of course, infuriated him. He found himself heading nowhere again but found himself at the entrance with Allura. He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Hey, princess. What's ya doing?"

She gave him a look of disgust. "I'm waiting for Keith to get back."

Lance pushed his lips together. "I don't get what you see in him. He's a jerk."

She looked him right in the eye. "I don't see what the Allura from your world sees in you."

"Excuse me?" Lance swallowed back the anger.

"The person who is a jerk is yourself, but I don't understand why she bothered dating you when this is how you treat Keith."

"You're the one who is delusional."

"I'm glad they'll be back soon."

"How do you know?"

"Keith told me."

"How come he didn't send the message to everyone else?"

Allura turned and looked at him with her eyes wide. "What do you mean?"

"Lance and Sven didn't know when I saw them."

"Of course not." A smirk spread across her face. "You aren't able to communicate with your Allura telepathically, are you."

"What?" Lance's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"The fact you don't know says a lot." Allura turned back and watched for _that _Keith and everyone else to approach. Eventually, Lance saw _that_ Keith with Shiro, Veronica, and a few others – the others being the Holts and the MFE pilots who in turn were helping _that_ Pidge and _that_ Hunk. "Keith!"

_That_ Keith didn't look up at her as she reached out. "We're getting more supplies."

A frown spread across Allura's face, yet her face twisted painfully as if feeling suddenly rejected. "Keith, are you alright?"

"I just need some time to think."

Lance for some reason decided to follow after _that_ Keith who seemed bothered by something, but he thought he'd figured it out because of the way _that_ Keith refused to look Allura in the eye and how Shiro refused to look at _that_ Keith. He continued following behind _that _Keith until the man twisted around and glared at him in a manner which made Lance nearly wet himself in fright.

"_What_ do you think you're doing?"

"You've realized you're not meant to be bonded with Allura, right? That's why you refused to look at her."

_That_ Keith's facial features twisted in horror, but he quickly went back to glaring at Lance in a murderous manner. "I've realized no such thing."

"Then why the hell is Shiro refusing to look you in the eye? He told you, didn't he?"

"That he and I are Galra? Yes, he did, but that doesn't mean Allura and I..." _That _Keith closed his eyes. "Allura would never reject me for that reason, but the fact you would imply that she would make you as much of a jerk as our Lance thinks you are."

"I am not a jerk! Why is it everyone thinks I am?" Lance felt his shoulders tense up as he glared at _that_ Keith. "I'm tired of Keith being Shiro's favorite!"

Lance watched _that_ Keith clench his fists. "Proving you are a jerk."

"Excuse me! What did I do wrong?"

"Wrong? You have an unbroken family. No divorce, both parents alive and your siblings right there, yet Shiro and your Keith, me and Sven, we had to fight to be together because life decided to spit in our faces taking away everything away from us. Our parents, our other sibling, so just stop with this crap of yours."

"Wait..." Lance swallowed, but _that _Keith didn't stick around to explain what he meant. A lightbulb – much to Lance's horror – went off in his head.


	18. Reality

**Winter Tree  
****_Reality_**

Seeing Keith hurt – even if it wasn't his Keith – was never a pleasant experience.

Of course, seeing the beautiful purple color leave Krolia's facial features was an experience Shiro was not at all sure about himself. His first reaction was, of course, wondering why she hid the fact she was part Altean from Keith and he, but then Shiro realized she lived in a world which sought the eradication of the Altean people. He also wondered if Kolivan knew Krolia's secret or not, yet the questions went unanswered.

The concept of bonding also bothered him greatly, yet he couldn't place his finger on why.

In the long run, they decided to head back to the Castle of Lions, or the Castle of Lions of this world, but Krolia stayed behind under the encouragement of _this_ Keith. The manner in which _this_ Keith reacted to her presence told him Galra were in fact not a welcome sight in this universe, yet Shiro understood that train of thought given the fact there was a similar reaction from those in their world if the person didn't know there were good Galra out there.

The mood going back was somber, yet the way _this_ Keith greeted _this_ Allura troubled Shiro. They were soon joined by _this_ Lance who seemed frustrated. "Have you seen..." _This _Lance paused upon seeing the sister of _their _Lance. "Veronica."

"Wow. Seeing you all grown up."

_This_ Lance rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. I'm not sure your Lance is going to make it to being grown up. He's seriously messed up."

Veronica's lips pushed together. "You honestly think so?'

"I. Yeah." Lance took a deep breath. "The rest of the family, they aren't on the ship as well?"

"No, but..." Veronica folded her arms as if she were unsure of saying something. She finally took a deep breath. "One of the aliens we know pretty much surmised our world is falling apart because Lance got together with Allura."

"Yes."

Shiro's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Wait. How can you be sure of that?"

_This_ Lance let out a snorting sound which indicated disgust. "Why? I'm not sure how to explain how Allura's abilities work, but it may very well tie into however she died. What I do know is I do _not_ belong with Allura, but I'm absolutely shocked any Allura dated someone who..." _This _Lance looked Veronica in the eye. "Apologies for saying this, but your brother is a colossal jerk and a bully. The way he treats Keith is appalling, but I'm not getting how Allura would be okay with dating someone who treats anybody the way he does."

Veronica tried smiling. "I've been hearing that Allura dating him isn't in character for her, but I've also been told he's a different person than I expected." Her eyes blinked. "Wait. I might as well ask you, but this idea of Lance being a ladies' man..."

_This_ Lance let out a laugh. "I know this is likely going to embarrass you, which is why I personally didn't do it in front of you or mother, but yeah. I am, but I'm not ashamed of it. I like flirting with the ladies and _love_ their attention. It's who I am."

Shiro's eyes widened. "You are _very_ different from our Lance."

_That _Lance frowned, which added to the surprise Shiro felt.

"Yeah. I noticed. I am so sorry your Lance isn't friends with Keith like we are in this universe. He's missing out on a great friendship. I'm not saying it's better than the friendship he has with Hunk, but I wouldn't give my friendship with Keith up for the world." He watched a few of the younger members look at each other and let out a sigh before looking at Hunk and Pidge. "Hey. Why don't you guys take the younger members to the recreation area before heading back out?"

"Sure." _This_ Hunk motioned for the MFE pilots and Matt to follow after him and _that_ Pidge.

"So, are there are others there?"

"Yes. Iverson stayed with the crew to see if he could find any more." The Keith from _this_ world said not to mention the fact Krolia was rounding up the Galra, yet Shiro knew this wouldn't be met well.

"Iverson? Wow. Talk about old memories." _This _Lance seemed a lot more positive than _their_ Lance. "What about the Galra?"

Shiro's jaw dropped. "Wh..."

"We have one in our jail cells, or did Keith not tell you we ran into one."

Veronica's lips pushed together. "He conveniently forgot about..."

"Shiro!"

Shiro flinched upon seeing _their_ Lance hurtle towards them, but he found himself not wanting to claim him as _their_ version. Not after meeting a Lance who seemed a lot more enjoyable to be around. "What?"

"What the quiznack is up with not telling us you and Keith are siblings!"

Shiro felt the color drain from his face. "What?"

"You heard me!"

"I did _not_ tell him."

_Their_ Lance turned on the other Lance. "You knew?"

"Yeah. I did. More importantly, it's rather obvious you're not trusted if..."

_Their _Lance didn't let the other Lance finish speaking and turned on Shiro. "You don't trust me?"

"Hey! I was talking about Keith not trusting you, you moron!"

"If I am a moron it stands to reason you are one as well."

"Veronica, did he get dropped on his head as a baby?"

"I..."

"Veronica!" _Their _Lance turned to their sister, but his eyes pleaded that she take his side. The look on his face faltered when she gave him a rather pained look which was quickly followed by him swallowing ."What?"

"Lance..." Veronica swallowed. "No. I don't think he was dropped on his head as a baby. I don't know why he is this way."

"Veronica! Why did you say that!" Lance turned and looked at Shiro. "What is wrong with all of you!"

"Stop it!"

Shiro let out a deep breath upon hearing Veronica snap. His real hand went up to the bridge of his nose and his eyes closed in frustration. Veronica was not someone who normally lost her temper, but he still remembered her reaction at hearing everyone's comments regarding Lance earlier.

"Lance, this has got to stop."

"What do you mean?"

"I..." Veronica took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Lance, I am going to ask some questions about Allura and I want you to answer me truthfully."

"What? Not you as well. This moron honestly believes she wouldn't fall in love with me, but Keith told me Allura wouldn't have gone out with me unless she liked me."

"Lance, as a female I'm going to tell you that is majorly inaccurate."

"Wh..." _Their _Lance swallowed. "But I asked her out. She said yes. That means she likes me."

"I can think of plenty of reasons why..."

"Did you even tell her it was a date?" Shiro found himself looking at the Lance from this world.

"What?" Shiro stared at _that _Lance. "What are you getting at?"

"Sorry, but I honestly can't believe she would go out with him for any other reason."

"What about pity?" Veronica asked. "Or to be kind."

"Hold on! You guys are assuming without knowing what happened!" _Their_ Lance began to splutter. "Stop acting like I'm not good enough for her."

"Lance..." Veronica looked as if she were on the verge of a breakdown. "Did Allura know you were asking her on a date?"

The lack of answer said everything, yet his reaction said even more. "That doesn't change the fact she loves me." _Their _Lance pointed to the marks on his face. "She said so. Plus, I promised I would be her family." Shiro watched Veronica and the other Lance's faces twist in horror. "I told her I fell in love with her because she was so strong in the way she handled her pain." _Their_ Lance saw the change in everyone's facial features. "What?"

"Are you actually in love with her? I mean, you..."

"Why the hell would you say that Veronica!"

"Because you said she was like family, but the reason you fell in love with her is downright cruel."

Shiro took a deep breath. _This_ Lance certainly didn't know how to hold things back, but realization seemed to be dawning on _their_ Lance who turned and hurried off. Whether _their _Lance was ready to face reality was a completely different matter.


	19. Thrust Forward

**Winter Tree  
****_Thrust Forward_**

Keith felt like crap.

Ignoring the fact his body felt like crap was, in fact, an easy thing to do. He never minded working through the pain he felt whenever he was injured, but he also never cared about that kind of issue as he knew full well how to cope with anything involving survival.

What he didn't like was feeling like crap emotionally. Emotions were harder to ignore, but he also didn't know how to handle emotions. The normal way he dealt with emotions was to keep going, but suddenly he was forced to slow down and think about things he honestly didn't want to think about. Sitting on the bed in the infirmary definitely made Keith slow down and think about those things.

Thinking about what happened to Allura made him feel ill at ease, but in the back of his mind, he knew she didn't deserve such a fate. He didn't understand why she didn't ask for help, yet in the back of his mind, he wondered if he was adequate to have helped her. It hurt hearing _their _Lance say, "_So you got caught by a version of Shiro who's actually willing to punish you?_"

"Don't listen to him." Sven noticed Keith was thinking about what _their_ Lance said.

"What did Lance do this time?"

Keith continued looking at the foot of the bed when he answered _their_ Pidge. "Nothing."

"You're not in trouble let alone being punished."

"I know. I just..."

"This Shiro..."

"Sven."

Pidge corrected herself. "This Sven is right. Don't listen to Lance."

Keith found himself unable to forget what _their_ Lance said, yet he found himself unable to relax. Sven finally let out a deep breath. "Okay. How about I take you to the recreation room?"

He glanced up at Sven. "I'm supposed to be resting."

"I know you. You need something to do, otherwise, you'll end up driving yourself insane." Sven smiled at him, in the same manner, Shiro would. "Plus, there is nothing there which will overtax you."

Keith looked at _their _Hunk and _their _Pidge. _Their _Hunk smiled at him. "I want to see what their recreation room is."

"I need to rest, but you guys go ahead and go."

"I..."

_Their _Hunk stood up and tugged on Keith's uninjured arm while Keith opened his mouth in protest. No protest came out in part because protesting something Hunk did simply didn't feel right, but Sven touched Keith lightly on the shoulder to encourage him to follow, but briefly enough that Keith didn't feel overwhelmed. When they arrived at the room they found another Hunk and another Pidge, but Matt was there with the MFE pilots.

James opened his mouth but stopped when he saw Sven. Sven cleared his throat. "I'll be going. There is a pool table and other things which should keep you occupied and out of trouble, but I trust your friends to keep an eye on you."

Keith's mouth opened. His first thought was that he had no friends, only for him to remember _their_ Hunk was, in fact, his friend. _Their_ Hunk grinned at Sven. "Yeah. We'll keep Keith out of trouble."

"Then I'll go see if I can help."

James watched Sven leave before turning to Keith. "I was going to say it was good to see you, but you're honestly a mess."

"I guess." Keith glanced away. He wasn't used to James being nice to him. "Um..."

"Where's Lance? He was with you when you left."

"He's around."

Another one of the MFE pilots – one who was male with dark skin – looked at Keith while crossing his arms. "You don't sound very enthusiastic about that."

"I don't?" Keith looked up. He wondered if that was a bad thing, but noticed _their_ Lance in the doorway watching.

"What did he do this time?" James let out a deep breath while glancing over at the two female MFE pilots who were browsing through some of the activities and deciding what they wanted to do.

"Good question. What did I do this time?"

"Is this Lance in the habit of messing things up," _that _Pidge asked.

"Me?" Lance pointed at his chest. "I'm not the one in the habit of messing things up. That would be Keith, but these anomalies are likely his fault."

_That_ Pidge pushed up their glasses. "I doubt that. In fact, I couldn't help but notice that your Allura is missing."

"She's dead." _Their_ Hunk swallowed.

"How?"

"She sacrificed herself for the universe. Big whoop."

"Big whoop?" The darker skinned MFE pilot glanced up. "She's supposed to be your girlfriend, but suddenly her death isn't that big of a deal."

"Wait..." _That _Hunk stared right at _their_ Lance. "Are you telling me she was dating you?"

"Why does that surprise people?"

"Interesting." _That _Pidge pushed up their glasses. "That might explain things."

"Wait." Keith looked right at _that_ Pidge. "_What _is that supposed to mean?"

"The anomalies are likely tied to your Allura's sacrifice."

"No. Allura sacrificed herself to save our universe. She fixed things."

"Did she?" A grin appeared on _that_ Pidge's face. "If she fixed things then why are these things still happening?"

"Because..."

Keith took a deep breath. "Look, maybe the anomalies are tied to what is happening to Allura, but you're implying that it is also somehow tied to Lance."

"Do you hear her voice?"

A deep breath of air sucked into Keith's lungs.

"I thought so. If you want to fix things you'll need to go after her, but I'll make the needed adjustments to the ship."

"Wait. What?" Keith didn't like the way Lance was glaring daggers at him.


	20. Beginning Again

**Winter Tree  
****_Beginning Again_**

Penelope sat watching the news screen as the city around her rattled from the attack. She wasn't sure what was going on beyond the fact something called Voltron was needed in order to defeat the enemy which was now attacking Earth. She wasn't even sure why the Earth was being attacked, but the fact they weren't alone out there didn't sit well with her.

Her mother of course prayed. Penelope swallowed. "An alien attack doesn't make you doubt your beliefs?"

"No." Lydia made the sign of the cross. "I still believe what I believe. I don't know what the pope will say about this, but I am praying he is alright along with my grandchildren who are out there along with the other children with them. I will never stop believing in the power of the prayer, but I will be given an answer like this like I was given an answer when Elena came out to us."

"I can believe that," Penelope remembered how Lydia welcomed Elena with open arms but found her answer in what the pope said regarding her granddaughter. "For me though, it makes it harder to believe in a higher power."

A look from Lydia said the subject was off-limits, but not because religion was an off-limits topic in the home. Instead, the focus needed to be on their own safety and hoping that the children would be safe as well.

The newscaster stood on one of the buildings with a finger pressed to their earpiece. "So, we have no word from the garrison which is the group most likely to have an answer. Everyone believes that this is the group against the pursuit of galactic space travel being a worldwide project and feel that it should be an unmonopolized adventure."

The reporter responding said, "I tend to agree as such programs would favor the governments who put the most money in and small countries would fall behind and become even more third world than they already are."

"How can they talk about a program which doesn't exist?"

"Possibly because they suspect that ship is of Earth origin still mommy, but they are speculating that the government possibly has been secretly traveling into space without people knowing."

"Yes, but that doesn't justify an attack."

The television signal went out and Penelope found herself taking a deep breath wishing they'd not lost any chance of having news regarding the aliens attacking Earth, yet something told her it would be some time until answers they waited for actually came. The lights flickered for a few seconds and then the power went off.

Lydia threw up her arms. "Alright. Let's go eat the ice cream."

"Mommy." Penelope shook her head, but followed her mother to the fridge and watched Lydia pull out a tub of ice crème before heading for two spoons.

"This will be our food until we get news. That way the fridge and freezer will remain cold as long as possible."

Penelope, of course, wasn't going to argue with her mother as they sat on the couch. She half expected a cop to come in and say the entire city was in fact evacuating, and yet there was no way they could possibly know how to evacuate let alone where the safe place was. A knock came at the door and Lydia got up and let the neighbors who came to the door in.

They brought with them some other foods from their fridge and soon quite a few people were gathered in the room while they waited for the power to come on and for some kind of news. Neither Penelope or Lydia mentioned anything about aliens, yet the thought remained in the back of her mind while she waited for answers. Her phone went off.

"_Aunt Penelope?_"

"Veronica?"

"_I am so glad the cell towers are working._"

"What is going on?"

"_You're not going to like the news, but I'd rather not tell your grandmother._"

"It can wait until the neighbors are gone."

"_We found Voltron. It's an alien weapon from another alien race called the Alteans, but there are five lions which form a bigger weapon._"

"What?"

"_I know. What's important here is the lions apparently picked their pilots, or paladins as the aliens told us._"

"And?"

"_One of the lions picked Elena._"

"What?" Penelope shoved a mouthful of ice cream into her mouth and swallowed.

"_Please don't blame Lieutenant Shirogane on this._"

"I won't. Schneider either. Honestly, I out of all people should know full well that you can't affect the way war turns out. You take care."

"_I will. And don't let Syd's mother know either. Not until..._"

"I got it."

"Any news?"

"Not really. We need to wait this out everyone, but make the best of the situation. While we're at it, why don't we get to know each other? I actually haven't met some of you, but this may very well distract us."

"From our impending doom."

"If you want to think about that, that is fine, but I know my mother is waiting for us to be saved and likes remaining optimistic. I'd like to take a page out of her book."

_Note - Here ends Winter Tree, yet a sequel is planned. Out of my two Open Novella projects for 2019 which delved into post season Lance I'd thought this one would end up with the character development where Lance would grow as a person, yet it ended up actually being Devil's Advocate where I succeeded._


End file.
